


Ten Steps

by Chisotahn



Category: Persona 4
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-01
Updated: 2012-08-01
Packaged: 2017-11-11 05:45:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 24,911
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/475160
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chisotahn/pseuds/Chisotahn
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU; fill for the following prompt from the badbadbathhouse kink meme on LiveJournal:</p><p>"Souji/Yosuke, <strike>established relationship</strike> [getting to know each other], where Souji never told anyone about being able to enter the TV. So, even though Chie and onward somehow ended up with Souji, Yosuke never wound up knowing about the shadow world. For months on end, Souji has been keeping his otherworldly adventures a secret from his predictably ignorant (yet suspicious) <strike>boy</strike> [best] friend (though he's still your Magician).</p><p>Preferrably later in the game, Yosuke appears in a Junes-exclusive interview (bonus if the media was filming Junes without permission), and thus, dungeon time ensues."</p><p>Slightly modified, but the core remains. Spoilers for events up to mid-August + some elements of November.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This AU roughly follows canon - for the first few months of the game, everything happens as it does in canon with the obvious exception of Yosuke's absence. The first two victims remain as they do in canon. Souji's awakening takes place with Chie instead. This sort of what-if is one of my favorite things to play with - I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
> 
> Many thanks, as always, to my dear beta Frigoris for her most epic work yet. This fic was originally posted on LiveJournal in 2009.

"-forecast said it might rain at the end of the week. We gotta make sure we make it," Chie began, hissing urgently into Souji's ear.

"We'll be fine," Souji reassured her, glancing at Yukiko; she nodded, a determined expression on her face. "It's only been three days, and Teddie thinks we're almost at the top. All we have to do is save her."

"I think I'll be free today," Yukiko replied, leaning in close. Class hadn't started yet, but they still had to be quiet and careful; their conversation was nothing like the ordinary gossip that swirled through the rest of the classroom. "We shouldn't have any problems getting into the storage room today either."

"I'm good for today, too. I'll ask Kanji at lunch." Souji was sure Kanji would be more than ready; their kouhai seemed anxious to prove himself, clearing his schedule by force if necessary. Sure, the staff of the Amagi Inn gave Kanji weird looks whenever they slipped through, but that didn't matter. They'd get used to him, just like they'd gotten used to Souji. "If he's free to go, then we can-"

The classroom door slid open with a loud _thunk_ as it hit the stopper, and Chie sat bolt upright. "He's here!"

Souji and Yukiko quickly turned back to sit properly in their seats, focusing their attention on their homeroom teacher. While King Moron's taunts had ceased to have any real effect on them, there was no reason to give him any openings. Souji blinked, though, as he realized Morooka wasn't alone - there was another boy trailing behind their teacher, taking up an awkward position next to the podium. That was familiar. _Another transfer student?_

But Souji knew what had to be coming, and Chie elbowed him lightly as Morooka cleared his throat. "Listen up," he demanded, gesturing sharply at the new student. "Looks like we got another chunk of garbage from the city."

Souji winced inwardly as the boy's eyes widened; Chie sighed, very quietly. "Couldn't even come in at the start of the term like you're supposed to," Morooka went on, glaring at Souji for a moment before continuing his rant. "Comin' in because of that big new store they're building, huh? Money-grubbers like the rest of 'em. Enough wasting time - hurry up, give 'em your name and sit down!"

The new transfer student recovered fairly well; Souji had to give him credit for that. "Hi, I'm Yosuke Hanamura... uh... nice to m-"

"So sit _down_ already," Morooka interrupted, pointing sharply at the empty seat behind Souji. "Right behind Seta."

Souji resisted the urge to sigh aloud - Morooka's jabs were so predictable - and instead watched as the new student edged his way across the classroom, a vaguely embarrassed expression on his face. Morooka kept going on about "money-grubbing city types coming in here with their big stores and their big plans and-" but Souji tuned him out after a moment, choosing instead to risk a glance back at the desk behind him. The new student - Hanamura - was emptying his schoolbag into his desk as quickly as possible. He met Souji's gaze for just a moment and grinned, a little shyly; Souji returned the smile before turning back to face the front of the classroom.

Chie slid a note onto his desk a moment later. _What a jerk,_ it said, in angry letters pressed hard into the paper. Souji just nodded, slightly - he'd managed alright when he'd arrived in Inaba and been the target of King Moron's harsh words, but that didn't make it any less frustrating.

And then Morooka started actually lecturing in earnest, cutting off Souji's train of thought. He tucked Chie's note under his own notebook and made himself pay attention. He'd have to talk to the new student some afternoon - when he didn't have to hurry off to the Amagi Inn with the others right after school.

 

........................

 

Souji got off the bus with a weary sigh. They had successfully rescued Rise, and she was safe now; the bus had passed the police cars on the road as the cops headed for the Amagi Inn, sirens blaring. The team had carefully set up the scene, and Rise used the last of her energy to pull it off - she'd been in the woods, lost and wandering after waking up in the forest where her kidnapper had presumably taken her, and stumbled out to the main road in sight of the Inn. Hopefully the story would stand up, but the alternative - _sorry, officer, I was actually inside the TV_ \- was so ridiculous that _anything_ seemed plausible in comparison.

They were all exhausted now, and Souji was no exception - he couldn't remember feeling this tired after a rescue since the very first one, when it had been just him and his newly-awakened Persona against Chie's Shadow. Then again, they had taken out two powerful Shadows in a row today, and it was only because of Teddie that they'd beaten Rise's Shadow at all. Everything ached, and Souji wanted nothing more than to go up to his room and collapse on the futon.

Not that he could do that, of course. Souji paused on the sidewalk in front of his house, took a deep breath and stretched, wincing as his aching muscles informed him of exactly how much he'd overextended himself today. Nanako would be home; his uncle likely wouldn't be. Dojima had probably been called in the second Rise had been found.

Sure enough, as soon as Souji opened the front door, Nanako jumped up from her usual seat in front of the television. "You're back, big bro!" she said, eagerly. "Dad left a while ago. He said they maybe found Risette!"

"Really?" Souji asked, putting down his school bag and slipping off his shoes. "Is she okay?"

"I dunno... but I think so! Dad didn't look mad when he hung up the phone, or hurt, or..." Souji let Nanako lead him into the living room; she perched on the couch next to him, talking excitedly about what her dad had said, and about her day at school, as the TV droned on in the background. He felt a little guilty for not giving his little cousin his full attention, but he had so little energy to spare.

"...so what did you do today, big bro?"

That actually required a response - but he couldn't tell Nanako about going to the Amagi Inn, even if he didn't mention Rise. "Hm, school was pretty normal... ah, except for one thing. We had a new student transfer into our class."

"Boy or girl?" Nanako asked, tilting her head to one side.

"Boy. I think his family might have something to do with Junes?"

And that was the magic word; an excited smile spread over his little cousin's face, and she bounced slightly on the couch. "I _love_ Junes! I can't wait until it opens up! Dad hasn't had time to go to Okina City in forever..."

Souji chuckled and ruffled her hair. "Yeah, he's been pretty busy, huh?"

"Mmhmm... but it opens in..." Nanako paused, a look of concentration coming over her face; she quickly counted her fingers. "Two weeks! Then we can go all the time! Every day! 'Cause every day's great at your Junes!" she sang, beaming.

"Your Junes," Souji echoed, obediently, then smiled as Nanako bounced again in delight. "I'll take you the first day it opens, I promise - but right now I'm hungry. Did your Dad say anything about dinner?"

"Um... there's some ramen..."

"That sounds good to me. What flavor do you want?" Souji asked as he got up, and while the movement brought another twinge from his abused muscles, he hid it well. Normally he'd make a proper dinner for himself and Nanako, but he was just too damn tired right now.

"Shrimp!" Nanako said, instantly, and she darted ahead of him to grab the shrink-wrapped bowls from the cabinet.

The TV caught Souji's attention as he walked past it, and he paused for a moment. "-correspondent in Inaba reports that teen idol Rise Kujikawa has been found alive and well after her apparent kidnapping three days ago-"

"Big bro?"

"Coming," Souji said, and turned off the TV.


	2. Chapter 2

Inaba was _tiny_ \- one train station, one gas station, and that was about it. The bulk of Junes seemed to dwarf everything around it. So it was patently ridiculous for Yosuke to get lost on the way to school, but he managed it somehow. _Fantastic. One more reason for that asshole teacher to yell at me._

Somehow, Yosuke made it in before the morning bell, though it was a near thing; he darted into the classroom and hurriedly sat down just as the other door opened to admit their homeroom teacher. Yosuke tried to hunch down behind the silver-haired boy in front of him, quickly grabbing his stuff out of his bag and shoving it haphazardly into his desk.

Fortunately, either his hiding trick worked or the teacher had better things to do than pick on him; Morooka launched into the lecture without incident, and Yosuke relaxed a little. He stared at the blackboard, trying to pay attention, but he couldn't really focus. Stupid teacher - what the hell was his deal, anyway? Stupid town, too, while he was at it. He hadn't asked for this. It had all been so sudden, with just a month's warning. _Your father's been promoted - branch manager of the brand new Junes in Inaba._ Congratulations for his dad, and a raw deal for him.

Stupid freakin' Junes-

"Hanamura!"

Yosuke jumped and met Morooka's gaze. Crap. The teacher was giving him a sharp, almost gleeful look - he knew he'd caught Yosuke out. "Y-yessir?"

"Answer the question, Hanamura - what's the meaning of the root word 'pend'?" Morooka's smile widened as Yosuke just stared. _Damnit-_

"To hang." The words were spoken quietly, and Yosuke resisted the urge to look at the source of the sound, lest he give it away. Instead, he repeated the answer quickly and (he hoped) confidently... and Morooka scowled, just a little.

"That's right," the teacher grunted, and continued the lecture.

Once Yosuke was sure he was safe, he relaxed again, relieved - though he did try a bit harder to actually pay attention to the lecture this time, so as not to waste the reprieve he'd been given. When the lunch bell finally rang, Yosuke quickly tapped the boy in front of him on the shoulder. "Hey, uh... thanks."

The other boy turned around with a smile. "Oh, no problem. I hate it when Morooka jumps on people like that. He did the same thing to me when I transfered here a few months ago."

"Really? I guess I just have to wait for some other poor sap to transfer in and take the heat off." Yosuke laughed, then shook his head. "But yeah... thanks for the hint."

"Hey, Souji," said the short-haired girl who also sat in that row, "you ready to go?"

"Yeah, one second," the silver-haired boy said with a nod, then turned back to Yosuke and held out one hand. "I'm Souji Seta, and this is Chie Satonaka."

"Yosuke Hanamura." Yosuke took Souji's hand after a moment and shook it, bemused, then gave Chie a friendly smile. "Nice to meet you."

Chie nodded cheerfully. "Nice to meet you, too. Don't take King Moron too seriously. He'll get tired of it after a while." She poked Souji in the back, though, as she stood up. "Yukiko already went to get her lunch. I'll meet you on the roof, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll be there." Souji got up too and grabbed his school bag before turning back to Yosuke. "I'd better get going - but hey, tomorrow's Saturday. If you're not busy after school, maybe I could show you around."

Yosuke blinked, surprised. "Huh? Uh... sure, I think I could do that."

"Great." Souji smiled. "See you later, then."

And then Souji was gone, walking out of the classroom and leaving Yosuke behind. He blinked, bemused, until the growl of his stomach reminded him that he hadn't bought his own lunch yet.

 

..................

 

The inside of Junes was a vast, echoing cavern at this stage, filled with noise and employees swarming everywhere. The actual building had been finished a few weeks ago, but the inside was still a work in progress, with tons and tons of product needing to be stocked and shelved. It was a madhouse, and Yosuke hated it. Oh, sure, he'd worked part-time at the local Junes back home, but that was different. Back there he was just one of the crowd; here everyone knew his name, usually followed by the words "the manager's son".

His job right now was in the back, scanning endless boxes as deliveries flooded in, bringing everything they needed to have a fully-stocked store for the grand opening. The repetitive movements quickly made his arms ache, and he jammed his headphones over his ears and turned the music up full-blast to try and drown out the increasingly obnoxious beeps of the scanner.

They'd talked about how great the grand opening would be, but nobody had mentioned the colossal amount of work needed to get to that point. Inaba was disappointing, Junes was disappointing, and school was rapidly heading that direction, too. He was supposed to be the big fish in a small pond, the fascinating, instantly popular city kid - and for a while, it seemed that would be the case. He'd had plenty of curious students around him right after he'd arrived, chatting after school, asking him questions over lunch, but inevitably their conversation would turn to either the city he'd left behind or to Junes. And while showing off his knowledge of far-off places and his connections with Junes was fun at first, it lost its luster quickly.

Even though Yosuke wasn't really sure he wanted to know more about this dumb town, he had to admit that he owed his classmate. And this Seta kid was a transfer student too, or so he'd said. Maybe they had something in common? Apparently, he also came from the city too - and that reminded Yosuke of another sore subject. He stopped scanning for a moment and fumbled in his pocket for his cell phone, eyeing the readout blankly. Still no messages, no missed calls, _nothing_. Here he was, recounting all the stories of the people he used to know, the things he used to do - and none of said people seemed interested in even answering his text messages. Didn't any of them _care_? He'd have to text them later. Again.

 _Ugh. Stop thinking about depressing crap._ Yosuke shook his head and shoved his phone back in his pocket, then fumbled for his player and switched playlists to the most obnoxious, upbeat music he had on the damn thing. At least he was going to legitimately hang out with someone tomorrow - maybe that'd go better. If nothing else, Souji probably wouldn't ask him about the city.

Yosuke stretched, then picked up the next box and kept scanning.


	3. Chapter 3

The rain arrived on Saturday morning, exactly as the forecast had predicted, though it wasn't supposed to last long. The rain was still pounding on the windows when the last bell rang, though, and Chie elbowed Souji with an aggrieved sigh. "Can you believe this? It said it was supposed to clear up by now!"

"Go down to Aiya, then?" Souji suggested.

Chie stuck her tongue out at him. "Nah, I can't afford to risk losing to the beef bowl today. Anyway, I'm going to go help Yuki at the Inn." Yukiko had left early today; Rise's discovery near the Amagi Inn had brought a new wave of publicity to the place, and Yukiko's family had their hands full. Chie tilted her head down to whisper into Souji's ear. "Hey, we gonna train tomorrow?"

"Maybe. I'll call you," Souji whispered back.

Chie nodded, then stood up. "Alright - seeya later!"

"Bye," Souji said, then turned to gather his books and put them into his bag as Chie left the classroom. He glanced back at Yosuke as he did so; the other boy had his head down on the desk, and Souji couldn't see Yosuke's expression under the fall of his hair. Maybe he wasn't interested after all... after the way Morooka had 'welcomed' him, Souji really wouldn't blame the guy too much if he wrote off Inaba entirely based on that experience alone.

But as soon as Souji stood up, Yosuke shifted, then glanced up at him with a grin. "Hey, what you said yesterday - is that still on?"

"Absolutely. You don't mind the rain?"

Yosuke shrugged. "That's what umbrellas are for, right? Anyway, I got the afternoon off work, and that wasn't easy. Might as well enjoy it."

"You have a part-time job?" Souji asked, curious, as Yosuke started shoving the contents of his desk into his own school bag.

Yosuke gave him a bemused look. "What, you don't already know? I work at Junes - it's not open to the public yet, but there's lots to do. My dad's the store manager. He wasn't supposed to be, but the first guy they hired had to quit because his wife got really sick. So they dragged us all out here to the boonies." Yosuke grimaced, then stood up, slinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Yeah, I know the feeling, kind of... but honestly, Inaba's not that bad. You'll see." Souji smiled. "You hungry?"

"Uh. Well, I didn't really eat much lunch today, so... yeah?"

Souji's grin widened. "Then I know _exactly_ what our first stop will be."

............

 

"This is _crazy_ ," Yosuke muttered, poking at the pile of meat inside his bowl. "This bowl's got some kinda meat generator at the bottom, right?"

Souji swallowed his own mouthful of beef, then chuckled. "They don't call it the Beef Bowl Challenge for nothing. It's only on the menu on rainy days."

"I said I was hungry, but I'm not _this_ hungry. I don't think I've ever been hungry enough to finish this - I don't think _anyone's_ hungry enough to finish this! Ever!" Yosuke took another bite, but his pace was rapidly slowing down.

Even Souji had to admit he was getting full. One day, he was determined to conquer the Beef Bowl Challenge, but it wasn't happening today. "I do know somebody who's finished it, actually. Chie's finished it three or four times, believe it or not."

Yosuke's chopsticks clinked against the side of the bowl as he stopped eating and stared at Souji. "You're not serious."

Souji laughed. "Completely. I got to see it the last time she took the challenge on. It was terrifying."

"Geez, she's so skinny... where does she put it all?" Yosuke poked at the beef bowl again. "If you'd said that Hanako girl, I would've believed you in a second, but... oof. I give in, man. The beef bowl wins." He put down his chopsticks almost reverently.

"Yeah, me too," Souji admitted, pushing his own bowl just out of reach so he wouldn't be tempted to eat any more - otherwise, he'd never be able to walk home, let alone show Yosuke the rest of the shopping district.

Their movements caught the attention of the chef, who casually leaned over the counter to peer at their bowls. "Aiya... too bad, boys. That'll be six thousand yen."

"I got it," Yosuke said, quickly, and Souji blinked.

"Wait, no you don't. That's way too much - I brought you here, I should pay for yours if anyone's going to-"

But Yosuke shook his head. "Nah, I told you, I got it. I have a part-time job, it's good. Anyway, I owe you one for the other day."

Souji seriously doubted that working part-time at Junes was anywhere near as lucrative as selling Shadow bits to Daidara, but Yosuke seemed pretty determined. So he just nodded. "Thanks," he said, with a smile. "I'm pretty sure one answer isn't worth quite that much, though."

"Then you'll have to give me some more answers later, to make up for the difference," Yosuke joked, handing the chef some bills and getting only a few coins in exchange.

Souji snickered. "We'll see. Ready to move on?" He stood up, then stretched.

"If I can still move." Yosuke made a face, but got up and stretched too. "Oof. I can't believe anyone could possibly finish off that monstrosity."

"Walk it off," Souji informed him with a grin, then led the way back out to the street. The rain was only a sporadic drizzle now, not even worth using an umbrella; there were more people along the streets, chatting as they went from shop to shop. "Ready to keep going?"

"Yeah, sure." Yosuke readjusted his headphones and stepped out onto the sidewalk. "So where to next?"

"Hm. I'd take you by Souzai Daigaku, except I don't think there's much point. Their grilled steak is a local specialty, though."

Yosuke groaned. "Don't mention meat. _Please._ Let's just go wherever. Walk it off, like you said."

Souji nodded, and started walking; Yosuke paused for a few seconds before catching up and keeping pace next to him. They ambled slowly down the sidewalk, with Souji pointing out various shops and stopping every so often to talk to people; Tatsumi-san laughed and asked how Kanji was doing, and Naoki Konishi paused from stocking the soda machine to say hello, though he gave Yosuke an almost wary look after being introduced.

"Y'know, you're right... this place is kinda nice. Cute, I guess." Yosuke stopped and peered into the window of the bike shop as they walked past. "The prices are kinda high, though. I think Junes is going to undercut a lot of this." He paused, then shook his head and pointed at something in the window. "Someday, I'm gonna get rid of my stupid bike and get something better... a motorcycle would be pretty cool, huh?"

Souji glanced down the street, thoughtfully. What Yosuke said about Junes was probably true, and according to Naoki, there'd been some concern about it among the local merchants. Which was probably why Naoki reacted the way he did, but-

"Souji?"

Souji blinked and refocused on Yosuke; the other boy was giving him a questioning look. "Sorry - what's up?"

"Aren't you... y'know, curious about Junes at all?"

"About Junes? No, not really - I mean, I know it's opening soon, and my cousin Nanako absolutely loves it. She has the jingle memorized. But we've been to them before. It's not like it's a new thing to me." Souji shrugged. "I'm sure you're sick of answering questions about it, anyway."

"Huh." Yosuke looked bemused for a moment, then grinned, and it seemed to Souji that the smile came more easily. "Well, hey. That works for me. You wouldn't believe how many people were my 'friends' until they realized I couldn't get them a job..."

"I've already got a job," Souji assured him. "Day care, very exciting."

"Really? I wouldn't have figured you for being that domestic."

"Oh, yeah, I wear an apron and everything," Souji said dryly, then laughed. "I cook, too. Is that domestic enough for you?"

"Figures," Yosuke teased, then stretched and looked up at the sky - the sun was beginning to set, and the sky was stained bright orange, with only a few scattered clouds left. "Whoa, I didn't realize it was getting that late. I guess time flies when you're having fun?"

"Having fun, huh? I told you, Inaba's not that bad," Souji said with a smile.

"I guess," Yosuke said, mock-begrudgingly, then grinned back. "Thanks. I appreciate it, seriously."

"Any time," Souji replied, and he meant it - it was nice to spend an afternoon not thinking about Shadows or the TV world or the case or anything. Just... being himself, being the leader of nothing more complex than a tour of the shopping district. He spent so much time with the others that it was easy to forget there were plenty of things going on in Inaba that had nothing to do with the murders. "Maybe we can hang out again sometime."

"Sure, that'd be great," Yosuke said immediately, then ducked his head slightly, as if embarrassed. "I guess I'd better get going. See you at school on Monday?"

"I'll be there," Souji promised, and watched as Yosuke gave him a thumbs-up and trotted down the street, heading for home.

That really had been fun.


	4. Chapter 4

As Junes' grand opening drew closer, Yosuke found himself increasingly buried in work. The week before Junes' grand opening, Yosuke found himself going to school, then immediately rushing to the store to work until long past his shift would normally have ended. He had just enough time left to eat and possibly stare blankly at his homework before collapsing into bed. Lather, rinse, repeat until totally exhausted.

Souji helped him out in class here and there, either giving Yosuke answers in response to King Moron's sharp questions or nudging at his desk to wake him up when he dozed off, but even that wasn't enough to break through his constant exhaustion. Hell, even the news that the serial murderer had struck again and killed _King Moron_ , of all people, hadn't done more than make Yosuke blink at the TV and wonder who'd finally snapped and given that jerk what was coming to him. He was just too damn tired.

So the grand opening itself wasn't the bright, joyous spectacle he'd imagined - oh, sure, it was crowded and people seemed happy, but Yosuke couldn't bring himself to care. All he could think about from the time he stumbled out of bed was the end of the day, when he could finally freakin' _sleep_. To make matters worse, he was on the registers, and the combination of what seemed like the entire town showing up at the store, plus the fact that hardly any of the new employees really knew what they were doing...

 _Ugh. This can't be over soon enough._ Yosuke went through the motions dozens, maybe _hundreds_ of times - "Hi, did you find everything you needed today? Have a great day!" - until his shoulders and throat were sore, but the lines never got any shorter. So many people went through his line that he didn't realize the face in front of him was familiar - and amused - until he was halfway through his greeting. "Hi, did you find everything you- _Souji_ , what are you doing here?!"

Souji just grinned. "Shopping, obviously. How're you doing?"

"If I don't come to school again, just assume I'm dead and Junes killed me," Yosuke said, under his breath, then reached out for Souji's first item and paused. "Wait, what? Five... _five_ medical kits? Dude, I didn't know you were that accident-prone."

"Heh, well," Souji said, though his gaze flicked away from Yosuke's for a second, but a moment later a small figure came up to him, brown hair just barely visible over the counter. "Ah - this is my cousin, Nanako," Souji said, and Yosuke leaned over the counter to see a small, pigtailed girl in pink standing by Souji's side, her face flushed with excitement. "Nanako, this is Yosuke, the transfer student I told you about."

The little girl beamed at him as if he was a movie star or something. "I _love_ Junes!"

"Wow, uh... hi, Nanako-chan," he said, then flinched slightly as the man in line behind Souji pointedly cleared his throat. "Uh. Sorry, dude," he said quickly, grabbing the items and scanning them, bagging them as quickly as he could. "I'll catch up with you on Monday or something-"

"When's your break?"

"Heh.. a break? What's that?" Yosuke sighed, but he gave Souji a weary smile and handed him his bags. "Maybe in an hour or two, I don't know. Don't worry about it. Seeya - uh. Have a great day!"

" _Every_ day's great at your Junes!" Nanako sang back at him, then waved.

But Yosuke had no time to think about Souji, or Nanako-chan, or even how glorious a break would be. The seemingly endless line continued to demand his full attention, and it wasn't until a good hour and a half later that he got a breather, finally relieved by the next shift. Not that his work was over, oh no - they needed him in the stockroom after his break - but he had a half an hour in which he could do _absolutely nothing_.

He almost went into the break room, then paused - nope, there were too many people in there. He'd be swarmed in a second with questions, and oh man, he was _not_ in the mood for more damn questions. Instead, Yosuke took off his apron and shoved it behind an endcap, then hurried up to the food court, hoping to lose himself in the crowd for a while.

What he wasn't expecting was to have a cheerful "Yosuke-kun!" reach his ears as he wove his way through the crowded food court. He stopped suddenly, his attention drawn to a corner table, currently occupied by a small child in pink and a familiar silver-haired teenager. Nanako-chan beamed at him as he made his way over to the table.

Yosuke raised one eyebrow at Souji. "Dude, I told you not to worry about it."

"Who's worrying?" Souji grinned. "A guy can have lunch with his cousin anywhere he wants, can't he?"

"Big bro, can I go play on the playground?" Nanako asked eagerly, putting down her empty cup.

"Sure, go ahead. Can Yosuke-kun have your seat?"

"Yeah! Thanks, big bro!" And Nanako hopped up, hurrying over to the playground; Souji just gestured for Yosuke to take a seat.

He did so gratefully, slumping forward to rest his forehead on the cool plastic of the table. "I think I'm just gonna fall asleep right here," he mumbled, turning his head to one side so he could see Souji's face.

"This will all be over tomorrow, right?" Souji asked, glancing over at the playground before focusing on Yosuke again.

"Man, I hope so. My whole damn life's been nothing but Junes, Junes, Junes lately. Sometimes I really hate this place."

"Yeah, I can understand that." Souji picked up his own cup and took a long drink. "Nanako-chan likes it, though. I'm sure I'll be coming here a lot."

"Your cousin's cute - and hey, you said your uncle was a detective, right? I bet he's really busy what with King Moron getting murdered and all. Here I thought all that crazy serial killer stuff was all tied up. It's kind of exciting, isn't it?"

To Yosuke's surprise, Souji glanced away again. "Exciting? I guess so, in a way."

Yosuke raised one eyebrow; even though he didn't know Souji all that well, it was still pretty clear the other boy was being evasive about something. Then again, if his uncle was a detective, maybe he was sick of hearing about the whole thing. "Something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. Nanako just gets lonely when her dad isn't around. I feel bad for her," Souji said, looking over at where Nanako-chan was playing. "We were all hoping the murders were done with, I suppose. My uncle isn't really home much with normal police work, let alone when there's an intense investigation like with the murders."

"That makes sense," Yosuke said, then stifled a yawn; even with all the noise, he was still exhausted enough that he wanted to just fall asleep right there on the table. "Ugh. I'm beat, but I still have to go back down and work in the stockroom for two more hours."

"How much more time do you have? If you want to sleep, I can just wake you up. I do it often enough in class."

"Shut up," Yosuke muttered, but he gave Souji a grateful smile. "Uh. Fifteen minutes?"

Souji checked his watch, then nodded. "Sounds good. Go ahead."

"Thanks, man," Yosuke said with a sigh, and rested his head on his arms, closing his eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

Souji knew the call was coming, but that didn't stop him from sighing quietly at the phone when it rang that evening. It was Yosuke, of course - probably mad, or at least confused. And Souji couldn't blame him. They'd had plans today, for the first day of summer vacation; hell, those plans had been all that kept Yosuke paying attention during their study sessions before exams. And then the Midnight Channel had come on the night before, with a clear image of Mitsuo Kubo taunting them all... and that was that.

Souji had sent Yosuke a quick text message that morning on the way to the Amagi Inn, knowing that he'd have to pay for it later, but their investigation had to take priority. He was exhausted now, his shoulders aching from fighting, but he owed Yosuke an apology no matter what. He flipped open the phone before it could ring again. "Hey, Yosuke."

"Sheesh - you're finally picking up, huh?" Yosuke sounded vaguely exasperated. "I called all afternoon, but it just said your phone was out of the service area and shunted me to voicemail..."

Souji sighed inwardly and settled down on the couch. "I'm really sorry about that. Something came up."

"S'okay," Yosuke said after a moment, though Souji could tell even through the phone that it really _wasn't_ okay. "I mean - we're still on for tomorrow, right?" But Souji hesitated just long enough. " _Dude._ Seriously?"

"I'm sorry," Souji said again, knowing it wasn't enough. "I really wasn't expecting to be busy right now. But summer vacation's just started, right? We'll have plenty of time to hang out."

There was silence for a moment, then a chuckle that didn't sound genuine in the least. "Yeah, I guess so. Maybe later this week?"

"Yeah, maybe - I'll call you, okay?"

"... Yeah. Yeah, you do that." Souji winced at the unmistakably hurt tone in Yosuke's voice. "Sorry. Uh. I'll... talk to you later." And Yosuke hung up before Souji could say anything in response.

He sighed and slumped into the couch, closing his eyes. No matter how he felt, he had a duty to see this through, to catch Kubo and put an end to this. He was the leader - he should be thinking about the case right now, reviewing the data from Rise about their opponents, planning strategies... not feeling guilty. He'd had to cancel or change plans with his other friends before, for the sake of their investigation, but he didn't remember ever feeling quite this bad about it.

After a few moments of silence, Souji got up and unrolled his futon, giving the television an irritated look before flicking off the light. It took him longer than usual to get to sleep.

 

Yosuke finally caught up to him a few days later. The investigation's progress seemed horribly slow, and Souji and the rest of the team had spent most of each day inside the TV world. Souji had been checking his phone messages, though; he'd watched his inbox fill up, and promised himself to reply to Yosuke in more detail, make things up to him, later.

But 'later' hadn't happened yet, and as Souji hurried down the street one morning, he nearly collided with Yosuke. "Whoa! Hey, there you are-" Yosuke had spluttered just before crashing his bike rather spectacularly into the curb.

Souji ran over to him and helped him up. "Geez, be careful - are you okay?"

"I'm fine - I was trying to find out if _you_ were okay! What's going on, dude? I haven't heard anything out of you for days!" Yosuke gave him a worried look as he got to his feet. "What happened to... well, everything?"

And that was exactly what Souji didn't want to hear. "Yosuke, I'm sorry - I really need to catch the next bus," and that wasn't a lie, at least. The bus would be here soon, the last one for a good hour, and if he didn't want to walk to the Amagi Inn then he had to get on it. "I'll call you tonight, okay? I promise."

He squeezed Yosuke's shoulder, then set off down the street at a rapid pace, trying to focus on the investigation and getting on the bus in time than anything else - which was a mistake, as it turned out.

"Souji, wait-" And that was all the warning Souji had before Yosuke grabbed his arm, trying to get his attention.

It was just Yosuke's bad luck that he happened to dig his fingers in right on top of a Shadow-inflicted bruise. Souji flinched away without thinking, involuntarily wrenching free of Yosuke's grip. When he turned to face his friend, the other boy had pulled back a few steps, hurt clearly visible in his eyes. "Er... sorry," Souji said, quickly. "What's up?" He could feel his phone buzzing insistently in his pocket, knew it was Chie or maybe Kanji text messaging him, but he tried to ignore it for just a moment.

"What's going on, man? Is something wrong? You... you mad at me or something?" Yosuke folded his arms and gave Souji an almost defiant look, and a renewed sense of guilt hit Souji pretty much instantly.

But Souji had no explanation to offer him. "No, I'm not mad at you," he said, firmly, meeting Yosuke's gaze to try and make him understand. "Nothing's wrong, I'm just... busy, that's all."

It was a shoddy excuse, and Souji knew it; he wasn't surprised when Yosuke responded with a frustrated shake of his head. "There's something you're not telling me, dude... c'mon, you can trust me," and the desperation in Yosuke's words _stung_.

Souji sighed. "It's nothing," he said, and hated the words even as he said them; he saw Yosuke withdraw further, shut down a little. "We're just busy, but it'll be over soon-"

"And I'm not invited, right. I get it." Yosuke turned away. "Fine. Call me when you're not _busy_ , I guess. When you've got time for me. Whatever."

And with that, Yosuke pivoted on one foot and walked away, fists clenched at his sides; Souji thought about calling after him, trying to explain himself a little better, but his phone buzzed in his pocket again and he sighed. No. He couldn't, and he hated even _thinking_ it, waste any more time. They had a murderer to catch, and that had to take priority.

Just as Souji got to the corner, the bus passed him on the street; he swore under his breath and started running. But there was a familiar figure waiting at the bus stop, and she quickly got on the bus and said something to the driver, holding the bus until Souji made it through the doors. "Thanks, Chie," he murmured as he dropped his fare into the box and followed her down the aisle. There weren't many people on the bus, but they still took their seats in the back, far away from everyone else.

"Geez." Chie shook her head. "The next bus isn't for an hour, Souji-"

"I know, but I made it, didn't I?" Souji replied, slightly nettled, then sighed. Chie didn't deserve that. "I'm sorry."

Chie just raised one eyebrow at him. "Did something happen?"

Souji looked out the window for a moment. "I ran into Yosuke. He's not particularly impressed with my disappearing act the past few days."

Chie was quiet for a moment. "Y'know, I guess I never thought about that... I mean, Yukiko's part of the team, so it's not a problem for me. I guess I'm lucky, getting to keep my best friend with me."

"Heh. We're that inseparable, huh?"

"Yeah, you're getting as bad as... oh, I don't know, Daisuke and Kou." Souji glanced back at Chie. She was grinning at him cheerfully, but she quickly sobered again. "He's kinda annoying sometimes, but I think he's a nice guy, and you guys do hang out a lot..."

"He wants an explanation. You know I can't give him one." Well, he could, but that would involve lying - and Souji didn't really want to go there. Not with his... yeah, best friend sounded about right, if his brain didn't immediately supply the image of Yosuke stomping away from him again. _Ugh._

Chie drooped. "Sorry, Souji."

"It's not your fault." Souji gave her a small smile. "Anyway, we've got a lot ahead of us today. Focus on that. I'll deal with Yosuke somehow, once we've... finished up."

Chie just smiled back and nodded, and filled the air with pointless small talk until they got to their stop. Still, it was almost a relief to go inside the TV and get into his leader mindset, to shift his focus to things he could 'fix' just by hitting them with a sword.

Sometimes things inside the TV world were so much simpler.

 

..............

 

Yosuke managed to make it all the way to the next intersection before he stopped walking and risked a glance back at the street behind him. A tiny part of him had hoped Souji would come after him, but his friend wasn't even in sight anymore. Yosuke swore under his breath, tugged his headphones over his ears and kept walking. It just wasn't goddamn _fair_ , they'd had plans and what the hell had happened?

And why the hell wouldn't Souji talk to him about it? But no, it was as if Yosuke had suddenly ceased to exist, and that _hurt_ , damnit.

Maybe, when it came down to it, they weren't as close as Yosuke thought they were - maybe their friendship was all on his end, and Souji was just being nice. Maybe the whole thing was ultimately as fake as his 'friends' back in the city. He got about as many text messages from them as he did from Souji these days.

Yosuke sighed and pulled out his cell phone. The readout was, once again, completely devoid of any messages, voice or text, and he scowled at it. It wasn't like he didn't have _any_ other friends besides Souji - he wasn't that much of a loser - but the other people he knew, like Daisuke and a few others from Yasogami High, or the other part-timers from Junes, weren't quite the same. They were friends at school, or acquaintances at work, and... Souji was one of the only people he saw outside of those two places, come to think of it. But now Souji had practically vanished, as if they hadn't made plans for summer break.

Yosuke shoved the phone back into his pocket. By now he was almost at Junes, and he hesitated for a moment at the corner. Just walking along and moping wasn't making him feel any better - there had to be some kind of alternative, but he couldn't think of anything else to do except go to Junes. His house was empty, and even if it seemed like there wasn't anything else to his entire damn _life_ but Junes, it'd still keep him busy. It was his day off.... but there'd be people around.

_Damn, that's lame. Even for me._

It didn't stop him from crossing the street, though, and he took off his headphones as the automatic doors swished open. One of the full-time employees was on the elevator on the way up - he didn't remember her name, but pretty much everyone knew who _he_ was. "Working again, Hana-chan?"

"Nah, it's my day off... but you know me, I'm always around," he said, cheerfully.

And if the smile on his face was a little forced, she didn't seem to notice.


	6. Chapter 6

"The police have apprehended the prime suspect in the Inaba serial murder case. The suspect was taken into custody last night-"

Souji changed the channel as Nanako came back into the room. "Did it start yet?" she asked eagerly, hurrying past him to take up her usual seat in front of the TV.

"Not yet," Souji replied with a grin. He knew better than to get between Nanako and Featherman, even for breaking news updates. Anyway, he was more than familiar with the news this morning. The ache in his shoulders was a constant reminder - they'd done it, they'd completed Mitsuo Kubo's 'game', defeated his Shadow, and dragged him out of the TV. It was over, at least in theory.

Souji knew that, logically, but he'd spent so many months working on the case, going to the Amagi Inn, jumping into the TV, summoning his Personas... it was startling, somehow, to be _done_. It was almost disappointing, in a weird way... and he had to admit that he'd kind of miss it.

But right now there was something - someone - else he'd missed that he needed to take care of. Souji padded into the hallway and flipped open his cell phone, tabbing through his address book until Yosuke's name was highlighted. He looked at it for a moment, then closed his phone and put it back in his pocket. A phone call or text message wasn't really enough. Yosuke had been _really mad_ , not that Souji could blame him. Yosuke hadn't said a word to him, spoken or otherwise, since that morning five days ago - which was kind of worrying, considering that Yosuke usually texted him several times a day.

Souji turned to peer around the corner at Nanako - the show had started, and she was humming along to the theme song. "I think I'm going to go out for a few hours. Is that okay?"

"I'll watch the house," Nanako said immediately, her eyes flicking up to meet his gaze for just a second before her focus returned to the TV. Souji shook his head, grinning wryly, then put on his shoes. He couldn't remember if Yosuke was supposed to work today or not, but Junes was still a good place to start looking.

Sure enough, Yosuke wasn't too hard to find - he wasn't at their usual table, but he was in the food court, his chair shoved into a small patch of shade. He had his headphones on, eyes closed, head bobbing slightly in time to the music, and he jumped when Souji tapped him on the shoulder. "Gah! Hey - _Souji?_ " The surprised smile lasted for a good five seconds before it turned into a scowl; Yosuke folded his arms, glaring at Souji in a half-hearted fashion.

The switch from cheerful to petulant was so abrupt that it was almost funny. "What, did you forget you were mad at me?"

"No," Yosuke said, then sighed and let his arms fall to his sides. He opened his mouth to say something else, but Souji got there first.

"Look, Yosuke - I'm sorry, I was a jerk, and... are you working today?"

"No." Yosuke glanced away for a second. "I'm just hanging out."

"Feel like hanging out with me?"

Yosuke gave him a long look. "Your treat?" he asked, finally.

"Yeah, sure," Souji said, and Yosuke's uneasy expression melted a little.

"Fine, I guess I can be bribed," he said, getting to his feet; still, when he walked over to Souji, he abruptly leaned over and punched him in the arm, hard enough to hurt. "Just - don't do that again, dude, okay? Seriously."

Souji winced - Yosuke seemed to have a talent for hitting his bruises by accident - but he had to admit he deserved that one.

 

They ended up walking down the main street in the shopping district, eating Topsicles and talking about nothing; Souji narrowly evaded Teddie in front of Tatsumi Textiles, the 'bear' working happily despite the heat and sparkling like mad at everyone who walked by. "'Sensei?'" Yosuke asked him as they headed up the ancient stone steps to the shrine. "You know that guy?"

"Yeah. We hang out sometimes."

"Heh. You hang out with the guy in the mascot suit for the shopping district Merchant's Association, and you hang out with me." Yosuke stopped walking, looking up at the leaves overhead.

"Why would that matter?" Souji asked, taking a seat on the cool stone in front of the offertory box; after a moment, Yosuke joined him. "You're my friend. So's he. It doesn't have to be all complicated."

"Maybe for you," Yosuke muttered, then bit off the tip of his Topsicle. "I don't really like coming here by myself, y'know? Everyone just looks at me funny, and they whisper when they don't think I can hear. I'm not _me_ , I'm 'that Junes kid'. Like I personally decided to open the store just to be a jerk."

Souji sighed. "They'll get over it eventually. They're just worried about their businesses, that's all." But it wasn't an adequate answer, and Souji knew it; it _was_ unfair, he couldn't and wouldn't deny that, and yet... it wasn't something he could really fix.

And that bothered him.

"Yeah, well." Yosuke kicked at a pebble. "That doesn't make it feel any better. It wasn't quite the same back home, but... now I'm thinking maybe I was just the Junes kid to people there, too. Discounts, connections, yeah... and how many of them answer my texts now?" He laughed, self-depreciatingly. "Nobody took anything personally... it was just business. I guess _I_ was 'just business', too."

"But you're not Junes - you're _you_ ," Souji said, finally, glancing at Yosuke. "And if people can't figure that out... well, it's their loss."

Yosuke sighed, but when he looked back at Souji there was a faint smile on his face. "So you're not here to wheedle a discount out of me?"

Souji laughed. "No." He elbowed Yosuke lightly. "I promise."

"Well... good. So long as we're clear." Yosuke grinned, then ducked his head again, quiet for a few moments as he licked at his melting Topsicle. "I was kinda worried."

"About earlier, you mean?"

"Yeah," Yosuke admitted. "I thought you might be like the rest of them. I mean... if you don't want to hang out, promise me you'll just _tell_ me, okay? I'm sick of people never answering my calls or messages, making excuses..."

"I'm sorry-"

"It's okay," Yosuke said quickly, then gave Souji a sidelong glance. "But what were you doing, anyway? I kept getting those damn 'out of the service area' messages when I called you. Did you go somewhere?"

Souji looked at his own Topsicle, trying to think of something. "Um. Kind of-"

"Sensei! There you are!"

Souji had never been more grateful to hear Teddie's voice; the 'bear' was standing at the top of the shrine steps, out of the bear suit now, waving a Topsicle in each hand. "I brought Topsicles, too - can I come share with you, can I, can I?"

Souji glanced at Yosuke; the other boy was looking at Teddie with a bemused expression. But he didn't seem bothered by Teddie's intrusion, so Souji nodded, grateful for the reprieve. "Sure, Teddie."

"Goodie!" Teddie beamed and came over to them, alternately licking at each of his dual-wielded Topsicles. "Oh, Sensei, it was so hot, it was un _bear_ able! Tatsumi-san gave me a break and money for these, though. She's such a nice lady!"

"Yeah, you've been working hard lately," Souji said. "Hey, Teddie - this is my friend Yosuke. Yosuke, this is Teddie."

"Uh. Hey," Yosuke said, awkwardly.

But Teddie gave Yosuke a curious glance, then rocked back on his heels with a sparkly smile. "Oh, I heard about you! Sensei talks about you all the time. Nana-chan too! She taught me how to sing your song, Yosuke-kun!"

Yosuke blinked. "My song?"

Souji opened his mouth, but Teddie got there first. "Every-day's _great_ at your Jun-es!"

Yosuke stared, then blinked again, then started to laugh, helplessly. "What the hell?"

"Nana-chan said you were from Junes, and that's the Junes song!" Teddie pouted. "Nana-chan and I practiced a lot!"

"And it shows," Souji reassured him, resisting the urge to laugh along with Yosuke. "You were almost on key that time!"

"Thank you, Sensei! Someday I'll get it _perfect_ ," Teddie said, with a determined nod. "Just wait and see!"

"N-no, you did fine, Teddie," Yosuke said, quickly. "I just was kind of surprised, that's all... I didn't think you'd like Junes at all, let alone sing the jingle..."

"Oh, no - Teddie _loves_ Junes! Nana-chan showed me!" Teddie brightened even more. "And Chie-chan and Yuki-chan took me there to get some clothes! It's not the same as what Tatsumi-san makes, but Yuki-chan said these clothes suited me better, anyway! Pretty girls love hot studs in stylish clothes," he added, with a sparkling grin.

Yosuke blinked. "Well, uh... come and say hi to me next time you're at Junes, then? Maybe I can get you a discount or something."

"Thank you! You're really nice, Yosuke-kun - Sensei always picks good friends," Teddie gushed.

"Yeah... I guess he does." Now it was Yosuke's turn to nudge Souji, a wry grin on his face. "Even if he is a weirdo sometimes."

"Hey!" Souji protested, then choked back a laugh as the remains of Yosuke's Topsicle slid off the stick to land unceremoniously on the ground.

Yosuke glared at it, then glanced up at Souji with a calculating expression. "You know, you still owe me, dude."

"Fine, fine. You want another Topsicle, I assume?" Souji shook his head and got to his feet.

"Ooh! Ooh! Teddie wants one too!"

Souji wisely refrained from pointing out that Teddie already had more Topsicles than he could handle; Kanji's mother was going to have fun de-stickying her house guest when he finally made it back to the store later on. "Okay - two Topsicles."

"Get me a soda, too?" Yosuke grinned unrepentantly.

He only barely managed to duck when Souji flicked the Topsicle stick at him.


	7. Chapter 7

Yosuke had called Souji early that morning in sheer desperation, calling in every favor he possibly could. "Souji - dude, I _seriously_ need your help, those two stupid part-time girls didn't show up and we're gonna be _slammed_ and they're not picking up their cell phones, and I know it's a hell of a lot to ask but-"

"It's fine - you're already at Junes, right? Give me ten minutes," Souji said firmly, cutting off Yosuke's panicked words. "I'll be right there."

"Ohmanthankyousomuch," Yosuke managed before hanging up and leaning against the wall of the stockroom in utter relief. True to his word, Souji arrived at the store ten minutes later, and Yosuke flung a Junes apron at him before dragging him up to the food court. It was already busy, and only going to get worse considering how hot it was supposed to be that afternoon. "You can cook, right?" Yosuke demanded as he tugged Souji behind the counter. "I mean, yeah, I know you can, all those lunches and stuff, but-"

"Calm down," Souji laughed, cutting Yosuke off with an easy grin. "I'm fairly sure I can handle reheating prepackaged food. It'll be fine."

Yosuke gave Souji a sheepish look. "Yeah. Sorry. The other two part-timers on concessions will be in later, so the afternoon rush'll be covered for that, but then there's the Featherman shows, and I am going to _kill_ Megumi-san and Keiko-san next time I see them."

"Just show me what I need to do," Souji said firmly, tying his apron around his waist.

Yosuke relaxed a little. He could trust Souji, after all, in a way he couldn't trust those part-time girls. "Well, they were scheduled to do counter and prep at this station, but..."

"Yeah, you can do the counter. I don't want you touching the food," Souji teased. "Unless there's a special on boiled eggs today, right?"

Yosuke rolled his eyes. "It's not like you even have to do anything fancy, geez - well here, look, there's a guide thingie. Follow that, and- _damnit_ ," he swore under his breath, as he turned just enough to catch the expectant gaze of a customer waiting at the counter. "Uh. Good luck?"

"We'll be fine," Souji assured him. "Get going!"

And it _was_ fine. After the first rush of customers had been successfully dealt with, Yosuke relaxed a little more; their part of the counter only handled a small part of the menu, after all, and Souji seemed just as confident in the food prep area as he was with... well, everything. There was a steady stream of customers to keep them busy, so they didn't have any time to talk, but it didn't seem like long before the next shift arrived and the two of them were sent out into the food court proper to deal with the crowds there.

They finally had a chance to relax a few hours later, as the afternoon Featherman show gave them time for a momentary breather. Yosuke slumped against a wall and closed his eyes, tuning out the dramatic speeches and answering reactions from the crowd. "Man, you're a lifesaver. If you hadn't been here, I think I would have died or something."

Souji chuckled; Yosuke opened his eyes just enough to see his best friend grin as he fanned himself with a discarded sales flyer. "It's a lot of work... but at the same time, it's kind of fun."

"Yeah, well, you don't have to do it every day," Yosuke muttered, then grinned back. "Thanks, man-"

"Hey, Hanamura!"

Yosuke jumped at the sudden, angry hiss, the back of his head almost hitting the wall. The door to the employee-only area was open, and Megumi and Keiko were standing in the doorway, furious expressions on their faces. He resisted the urge to groan, then sighed under his breath and straightened. "Be right back," he told Souji, then quickly sidled over to the doorway.

The two girls backed away enough to let him through the door, then converged on him immediately once it closed behind him. "What's this about us being in trouble for being late?" Megumi said, glaring at him.

"Uh... well, you're six hours late right now, so-"

"This is _ridiculous_ ," Keiko spat. "It's summer vacation - you better talk to your dad about this! We've only got one chance left before he fires us, and I gotta keep this job!"

 _Then maybe you should freakin' come to work_ was what Yosuke wanted to say, but he stopped the words before they could escape. "I really don't think that'll work. I mean, you were late, so... there's nothing I can really do about that, right?"

"You'd better do _something_ ," Megumi snapped. "Make sure!" With that, they stepped out of the doorway, letting the door fall closed behind them - but they stayed just outside, their shadows visible under the door, their voices still quite audible. "Can you believe this crap?"

"Ugh, I know - can't he do anything right? The only reason anyone even talks to him is 'cause he's the manager's son, and if he can't even do something like this... why bother?"

Yosuke swallowed hard, trying to shove away the sudden painful feeling in the pit of his stomach.

"Oh, he'll fix it. He's so _desperate_ , he can't afford not to."

They moved away then, still muttering about him, but Yosuke couldn't bring himself to open the door and head back outside. Instead, he leaned against the wall and rubbed awkwardly at the back of his neck. _Can't let them get to me, they're just bitchy 'cause they got caught out_ , he thought, hard, but logic didn't really help.

A moment later, the door creaked open again. "Yosuke?"

Yosuke quickly pushed off the wall and caught the door handle, pulling it the rest of the way open; Souji was standing in the doorway, a vaguely worried expression on his face. "Geez, sorry - you know how it is, being the manager's son and all. Some people think I'm the complaints department, heh."

"Those were the part-time girls that didn't show up this morning?"

"Yeah, well. They're not going to be working here much longer if they don't shape up," Yosuke said, then glanced out the door past Souji. "Hey, it looks like the show's almost over... we gotta be ready to clear the tables before the next horde descends. Never a dull moment, huh?" He laughed.

"Right," Souji agreed, but Yosuke could tell his best friend wasn't quite convinced that everything was okay. But there was a lot of trash to pick up and chairs to rearrange as the crowd dispersed. Souji matched chairs to tables across the food court while Yosuke gathered up trash and wiped up any obvious spills from the tabletops, just enough to get the area looking clean and tidy before the next show in forty-five minutes. Yosuke lost himself in those mindless tasks without too much trouble.

One of the tables was particularly filthy, having been all but drenched in spilled soda. Yosuke swore under his breath and shoved the sodden trash into his garbage bag, then tried to corral as much of the spill as he could. A moment later, a pile of napkins landed on the table; he glanced up, startled, to see Souji standing there. "I'll get some more from the back," Souji said, and Yosuke just nodded.

The napkins helped a little, but the whole thing was still sticky and horrible, and it wasn't until a few minutes later when all the spilled soda and soaked napkins had been disposed of that Yosuke realized Souji hadn't ever come back with more napkins. He sighed, shouldered the now-full trash bag, and headed for the back room; put one slightly-sticky hand on the door handle, then stopped. There were voices inside again - angry ones. He couldn't quite make out specific words, but... no, it was Megumi and Keiko again, and...

"-stay out of this!"

Yosuke jumped away from the door and ducked around the corner as the door swung open again; Megumi and Keiko walked past very quickly, muttering to each other under their breaths. This time, they headed for the elevators. Yosuke sighed and hefted the bag again, only to round the corner and almost run right into Souji.

"Whoa-" Souji reached out and steadied the garbage bag before Yosuke could drop it. "You got it all cleaned up, huh?"

"Yeah, I did..." Yosuke frowned slightly as Souji held the door open for him. "Hey, Souji, you weren't... I thought I heard you talking to them..."

"I heard what they said to you earlier," Souji replied as Yosuke stuffed the trash bag into the kitchen's trash chute. "It isn't fair that they blame you for-"

"Dude, it's okay, I'm used to it, it happens all the time. Just let it go," Yosuke mumbled.

"That's not acceptable," Souji said sharply, and Yosuke gave him a startled look. "Just because something happens all the time doesn't make it okay."

"I'm the manager's son. That's just the way it works!" Yosuke closed the door to the trash chute with unnecessary force, then tried to slip past Souji and out the door into the hallway, but Souji grabbed his shoulder.

"They're just using you, Yosuke-"

Yosuke rounded on Souji, his fists clenched hard at his sides. "Yeah, fine, maybe they are - but I can't worry about that, because then I'd have to worry about if... if everyone else is just using me too, alright?" _Like my 'friends' from back home_ , his brain threw in, treacherously, and Yosuke bit his lip, hard. "It's just stupid, okay? I can't let it get to me. I'm fine-" But his voice cracked on the last word.

Souji's hand was still on his shoulder, but after a moment, the other boy shifted. Yosuke tensed slightly as Souji reached out and caught him around the waist in something that seemed suspiciously like a hug.

"You stupid- that's for girls," Yosuke mumbled, but he couldn't tell whether he ducked to bury his face in Souji's shoulder for comfort, or just so that Souji wouldn't see his face when the tears finally came. Not that Souji wouldn't figure it out anyway, the way his shoulders were shaking.

Yosuke wasn't really sure how long they stood there like that, but finally he took a deep breath; Souji moved immediately, releasing him from the impromptu embrace, and tried to catch Yosuke's gaze. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm okay," Yosuke said with a sigh. "Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it." Souji smiled. "I promise, there are plenty of people who like you because you're you. Not those girls, obviously, but not everyone is like them."

"Heh.... yeah, I guess _you_ don't have any ulterior motive for being my friend, huh?"

Souji laughed. "Yeah, I want to get huge discounts for Nanako. Dumbass."

"Nanako-chan could get a discount just for being adorable." Yosuke pulled a clean napkin from the pocket of his apron, then wiped at his face. "Man... thanks for... that. Even if it was stupid."

"I didn't mind," Souji assured him, and Yosuke smiled despite himself.


	8. Chapter 8

The cicadas hummed into the night, their drone muffled by the sounds of the summer festival. For these two nights, the tiny shrine was revitalized; Souji wondered idly if the fox approved, if it was sitting somewhere and watching them all with those bright, knowing eyes. "Ta-da-da-dum! One shaved ice, just like you wanted, Sensei!" Teddie proclaimed, holding the thing like a trophy before handing it off to Souji. "There's so much food, so many lights... so many pretty girls..."

Souji had to admit that the girls looked fantastic in their summer yukatas, even if they couldn't walk very quickly at all. "Man, how'm I supposed to catch goldfish with this thing on?" Chie sighed, fanning herself with what looked like one of Yukiko's older battle fans. "I feel like I can't move!"

"It's perfect for you," Yukiko giggled, and Chie rolled her eyes.

"You gotta be real careful," Kanji advised them, through a mouthful of ikayaki. "And take real good care of 'em once you catch 'em, too!"

"I will!" Nanako-chan beamed as she hovered over the goldfish trough, a paper 'net' in one hand. "Which one is the best, big bro?"

"Hmm..." Souji studied the fish carefully, then crouched down next to Nanako and pointed one out. "Do you like that one?"

"Yeah!" she agreed, enthusiastically, then sat down on her heels and leaned forward with a serious expression on her face. "Careful... careful... ah!" There was a splash. "I got it!"

"First try, too! Awesome, Nanako-chan!" Chie grinned as the booth attendant carefully transfered the goldfish into a water-filled plastic bag. "Whatcha gonna name it?"

"She's a girl fish," Nanako informed Chie, "and... um..."

"You should name her... hmm..." Kanji's brow furrowed.

Souji laughed and stood up, stretching as he did so. This was fun, if a little bittersweet - it was, after all, partially a celebration that they'd solved the case. They hadn't been inside the TV world in a good week and a half. And while that was obviously a good thing, they weren't really the team any more. Not the way they had been, anyway, with their mission and shared secrets.

"The glow of the lanterns, the beauties in yukatas..." Teddie sighed next to him. "It's like a dream come true!"

"It's kind of romantic, isn't it?" Rise laughed, coming up beside Souji.

"Very, very romantic! Under the fireworks, young love blossoms," Teddie proclaimed. "And then comes the _kiss!_ "

"I acted out a scene like that before, for a drama. And your shaved ice is melting, Souji-senpai," Rise said, and Souji hurriedly picked up the straw as she giggled. "Take notes, Teddie - dripping shaved ice on people is almost never romantic!"

"Right!" Teddie said, nodding seriously. "But Rise-chan, when _is_ it roman- oh!"

Souji blinked as Teddie suddenly zipped past him; ever since they got here, Teddie had been darting from booth to booth like a little kid, but this time the 'bear' was waving wildly. A moment later, Souji stifled a laugh as he heard a familiar voice rise in protest over the sounds of the festival. "H-hey Ted- whoa, hey, let go!"

"Sensei, look who I found!" came Teddie's triumphant shout as he returned, practically dragging Yosuke behind him.

"Good job, Teddie," Souji said solemnly, then laughed as Yosuke gave him a pained look. "How's it going?"

"Oh, hi, Yosuke-senpai," Rise added with a winning smile.

Yosuke actually blushed a little. "H-hey, Rise."

"Rise-chan promised to teach me all about the festival!" Teddie beamed, releasing Yosuke's arm and latching on to Rise instead. "The lights, the food, the _romance_ \- I'm ready, Rise-sensei!"

"Rise-sensei, huh? I like the sound of that!" Rise giggled. "Okay, Teddie, let's go!"

"What just happened?" Yosuke asked weakly, as Teddie shifted his grip on Rise's arm, according to her instructions, and the two of them walked off. "Dude, you got some weird friends."

"What, like you?"

Yosuke punched him on the arm. "You know what I mean. Geez."

"What're you doing here? I thought you didn't like coming out here alone," Souji said with a grin.

"Yeah, well... it's summer, right? You gotta go to the summer festivals... but wow, Risette in a yukata. That was definitely worth the trip." Yosuke shook his head. "Man, you gave up hanging with _Risette?_ You're crazy!"

"You know she's just Rise to me." Souji took another bite out of his shaved ice.

"Yeah, yeah - you're always hanging out with all the teen idols, right?" Yosuke grinned. "So what's there to do around here? I just got here, so..."

"The usual - food, a couple of games..." Souji glanced over at the goldfish booth; his uncle had joined the group, and Nanako was proudly showing him her prize while Chie and Kanji energetically debated which name was more appropriate for the fish. "It's not very big, but it's cute."

"I guess I'm getting used to the small-town thing. Cute's fine with me, and food is _definitely_ fine. Something smells really good. C'mon!"

Small as the festival was, it did indeed have plenty of food; before long Yosuke was armed with a meat skewer, while Souji stuck with his shaved ice. "S'good," Yosuke informed him through a mouthful of food. "Junes' food's kinda crap. This stuff's much better."

"You'll choke if you keep doing that, you know."

Yosuke just rolled his eyes, but swallowed before opening his mouth again. "Dude, I was _trying_ to have a conversation with you, not get a lecture." He took another bite, turning slightly to survey the booths that lined the walkway leading up to the shrine, then flinched as a sudden loud _boom_ filled the air, accompanied with a burst of red light from above. "Whoa, what the hell?"

"Fireworks already? I guess I lost track of time." Souji blinked as an excited murmur swept over the rest of the scattered crowd, and almost everyone at the festival began moving towards the street as another firework exploded somewhere beyond the leaves overhead.

"Oh, damnit, I wanted to see these - man, all the good spots are taken already," Yosuke groaned, looking at the people already lining the stone steps and pressing against the bushes at the front of the shrine. "Argh, we'll never get out onto the street now..."

"We don't need to. Come on," Souji told Yosuke, grabbing his arm; he'd been here with the fox often enough to know his way around the shrine grounds better than most. He led Yosuke around the back of the shrine, where there was a gap in the fencing just wide enough for a person to slip through to the small field on the other side. It was a tiny clearing, good only for children (and foxes) to play, but it was enough. "Here we go," Souji proclaimed, stopping by the fence and climbing up to sit on the top rail. As Yosuke joined him, another firework boomed overhead, perfectly visible, with only a few telephone wires in the way.

"Geez, you really do know how to find everything in Inaba," Yosuke muttered as another firework arched across the sky. "You're so damn weird."

Souji elbowed his best friend; Yosuke had to grab the fence to avoid falling off. "You're complaining? You can go stand behind everyone else, up on your tiptoes, trying to catch just a tiny, tiny glimpse-"

"Not on your life," Yosuke said immediately, then gave Souji a grin. The burst of a firework made the shadows around them flicker. "I'm glad I ran into you."

"Even if Teddie did have to drag you over," Souji teased; Yosuke made a face. "He's pretty excitable, but he means well."

"Yeah, I know he does." Yosuke looked bemused. "You'd think... y'know, how he works for the Merchant's Association and all..." He didn't finish the sentence, but Souji still knew what he meant.

"That he wouldn't like you because you're 'the Junes kid'? Teddie doesn't worry about things like that."

"Yeah... some people do, and that sucks, but not everyone's like that." Yosuke looked up at the sky, a sheepish smile on his face. "You're not like that, and there's other people around me who aren't like that either. This town's still tiny as all hell, and it still kinda sucks sometimes, but..." Yosuke was quiet for a long moment. "I guess if you have your family, and you have real friends... you can be happy anywhere, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"So... I don't really hate being here anymore." Yosuke's smile softened a little, though he was still looking up at the fireworks. "Because my family's here, and I have friends here now, too... and I have you. You're special to me, y'know?"

There was something oddly soft and vulnerable in the way Yosuke said those words, and Souji quickly glanced over at his best friend - but the flickering burst and crackle of a particularly bright, rapid-fire string of fireworks made it hard to make out Yosuke's expression. And when the sharp, staccato popping faded, the moment was gone. Maybe it was just his imagination... and he wasn't sure if he was pleased or confused by the thought.

"That was kinda neat," Yosuke said slowly, as the crowd along the main shopping street started applauding; he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly, then stretched and jumped off the fence, as if nothing had happened. "Thanks, man... that was fun. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon, maybe?"

"Sounds good," Souji agreed, climbing down himself. "Call me after your shift?"

"Will do." Yosuke grinned. "G'night." And then he was gone, darting across the field and easily hopping the fence that separated the field from the shopping street.

Souji watched him go, a thoughtful look on his face.


	9. Chapter 9

Souji and Nanako sat in companionable silence, listening to the soft sound of the rain outside. Nanako was working busily on her summer homework while Souji sat on the couch with a book, offering encouragement and advice as needed. "Big bro, did it rain that day we went to Junes? I don't remember," Nanako asked, after a moment, her brow furrowed in thought.

"Yeah, it started on the way home, remember? We had to run down the street so you wouldn't get wet."

She giggled. "Yeah, that's right! Thanks, big bro!"

Souji smiled and settled back, then paused as his phone started to ring; Yosuke, according to the caller ID, which meant it could take a while. "Hey, I'm going to go upstairs for a little bit to answer this, okay?"

"Sure! I'm just drawing the pictures now," Nanako said with a grin; she held up her book for his approval, and Souji couldn't help but smile at the stick figures. They were remarkably detailed, considering.

"Okay. I'll be back in a few minutes." Souji quickly headed for the stairs, flipping the phone open before the call could go over to voice mail. "Hey, what's up?"

"Oh man, oh man. Souji, I am _so dead_."

Souji blinked at the panicked tone in his best friend's voice; he went into his room and pushed the door halfway closed behind him before settling on the couch. "What's going on, now?"

"Dude, this is serious, I- do you even watch television? Don't answer that," Yosuke groaned. "I was just on the freakin' _news_."

"... what, like on TV?"

" _Yes_ , like on TV, what do you think!?"

A flicker of unease awoke in the back Souji's mind, but he tried to ignore it. "So why were you on TV, anyway? Did you rob a bank or something?"

" _Souji-_ argh, this isn't the time for that, seriously," Yosuke spluttered.

"Sorry. What happened?"

"There were some dumb reporters lurking in front of Junes, interviewing people - word on the street, or something, I guess - about Junes, and what people think about how it's supposedly destroying local businesses or something," Yosuke said, with an exasperated sigh. "They grabbed me on my way out of work 'cause I still had my apron on, and then I let slip I was the manager's son and they stuck the camera right in my face. I was hoping maybe they wouldn't use that footage, but they ended up airing pretty much everything I said, and hardly anything from anyone else they interviewed! They called it an _exclusive_ Junes interview, goddamnit - my dad is going to kill me!"

Souji sighed into the phone. "Look, it can't be that bad. What did you say?"

"Doesn't matter... look, Junes is weird, okay? You're supposed to go through official PR channels for this kind of thing. It's some big corporate deal. But I was tired and I just wanted them to leave me alone so I could go home, so I babbled a bunch of stupid crap and _damnit_. My dad'll be home soon, so I have... what, maybe a few minutes left to live? I'll leave you some of my stuff in my will, okay?"

"Nobody's killing anyone." Souji rolled his eyes. "Just calm down, alright? I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Yeah, well- _shit_ ," Yosuke swore, and Souji heard a muffled sound in the background, perhaps a door slamming. "He's home. Damnit. Call you later, maybe, if I'm still alive." With that, he hung up without waiting for a response.

Souji just shook his head and flipped his own phone closed, then padded downstairs, trying to ignore both the sound of the rain on the windows and the uncertain feeling in the pit of his stomach. But they'd caught Mitsuo, it was over, Yosuke could be on TV every night if he wanted with no harm done. Souji made himself stay calm, exactly as he might have before fighting a dangerous Shadow. The only thing he had to worry about was Yosuke's dad actually killing him, and that wasn't going to happen.

"Is something wrong, big bro?"

Souji glanced down at Nanako; she was looking at him, concern in her eyes, and he smiled. "No, nothing's wrong. How're the drawings coming along?"

.............

 

_Almost midnight._

Souji snapped the curtain closed, that movement practiced and familiar; how many times had he watched the clock hands tick towards midnight, wondering what would show up on the blank TV screen as rain drummed on the roof overhead? But there shouldn't be a damn thing. He should be going to bed. There was no reason for this... and yet he couldn't quite make himself sleep. But it'd be fine, and when nothing happened he'd have the ultimate reassurance. The sharp tick the clock made as it hit midnight seemed unnaturally loud, and Souji unconsciously leaned forward slightly, focusing on the TV.

And then his breath caught in his throat as static crawled across the screen, tainting it with a yellow glow, revealing a dark shape that fuzzed at the edges - but Souji had no doubts, as indistinct as the image might be. He pulled out his cell phone in one quick movement, and he gripped the thing hard as he dialed Chie's number.

"Souji?" Chie answered, her voice sleepy; he'd woken her up, but he had no mental room to feel bad about that right now.

"Chie-" The static faded from the screen even as he spoke, leaving no light behind. "Chie, listen to me. The Midnight Channel was just on."

"W-what? Wait, are you serious?" Chie spluttered. "This better not be a joke-"

"It's not a joke, I swear - it was just on, and _Yosuke_ was the one on it. There was a special on the news earlier tonight, and..."

There was a long silence from the other end, and then Chie swore under her breath. "But we caught the guy! Didn't we?"

"I don't know. I thought we did too, but... I saw Yosuke on the Midnight Channel. I know I did."

"I believe you," Chie said, but she sounded shaken. Souji couldn't blame her. "Okay. Uh. Meet at the... maybe the gazebo tomorrow? If this is really... really still going on, we gotta talk to everyone."

"I'm _not_ letting this happen," Souji said, and it came out more like an order than he'd meant it.

"Well, at least Yosuke-kun won't yell at you for following him around like Kanji-kun did," Chie said with a laugh that quickly faded. "Uh. We'll... see you tomorrow, I guess?"

"Yeah. Thanks, Chie - I'm sorry I woke you up."

"S'alright, I'd be freaking out too - heck, you saw me, I _did_ freak out with Yukiko... try and sleep, okay? G'night."

Souji listened to the drone of the dial tone for a moment before lowering his hand and closing his phone, letting it slip through his fingers and fall to the ground. He had a feeling sleep was one thing he wasn't going to be able to do tonight.


	10. Chapter 10

The grocery section of Junes was busy as usual; the aftermath of the morning sales always meant lots to clean up, plenty of accidental spills to mop up and endcaps to straighten. Still, Yosuke couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched - and, while at first he just rolled his eyes and told himself he was being paranoid, as he kept working it seemed he kept hearing things. Little noises, shuffles like quiet footsteps or clothing rustling, but every time he looked suspiciously up and down the aisle, he didn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Maybe he was just imagining it, going stir-crazy from being grounded all weekend-

 _What's that?_ Yosuke slowly put the box he was holding down on the shelf, then frowned. Sure enough, there was a weird, rhythmic squeaking moving down the next aisle over; he crept over to the shelves and tilted his head, listening carefully.

"Teddie- oh man, you are _not_ wearing that," came a frantic whisper from the other side of the shelving. "What is _wrong_ with you?!"

"B-but Chie-chan, it's my disguise-"

"W-what? That's the worst disguise I've ever- _Teddie, stop-_ " Something knocked against the shelf, hard. "As if everyone didn't already know who you were, sheesh!"

Yosuke quietly snuck down the aisle and peered around the endcap, only to see Chie standing halfway down the aisle, arms akimbo, glaring at a familiar, gaudy mascot costume. "I can't _believe_ you," she began, only to be cut off as Teddie turned.

"Yosuke-kun!"

Yosuke nearly banged into the endcap as he straightened, trying to look casual; fortunately, Chie was doing the exact same thing, grabbing a random box from the shelf and staring at it as if it were the most interesting thing in the world. "A-ah - hey, Yosuke-kun! Hey, where's the... the hair products? You know Teddie here, he gets terrible... terrible hat-hair from the inside of this thing..." She tapped Teddie on the head, a little harder than was really needed, and got a muffled yelp from inside in response.

"Uh... over in the Health and Beauty section?" Yosuke replied, confused.

"Ah... ah, yeah, right! Obviously!" Chie shoved the box back on the shelf and grabbed Teddie by one arm. "Thanks! Come _on_ , Teddie-"

Yosuke stared as she practically dragged Teddie away, and wondered what on earth was going on.

And it didn't stop there, either - it went on all day long, catching glimpses here and there. Yukiko was in the grocery section, browsing the produce with the most ill-chosen curry recipe Yosuke had ever seen in his life; Kanji was in the toy department, staring fixedly at a display of stuffed animals, trying (and failing) to be inconspicuous. By the end of the day, Yosuke was thoroughly confused - even moreso when he emerged from the break room, apron slung over one shoulder, and nearly collided with Souji.

"Whoa, hey - careful," Souji laughed as Yosuke stumbled back, startled.

"Geez, way to give me a heart attack," Yosuke sighed as he got his balance back, then grinned. "What're you doing here?"

Souji shrugged. "Shopping - when school starts again, I won't be able to make dinner as much as I have been, so I thought I'd grab some stuff from here. Nanako loves anything that so much as mentions Junes."

Yosuke shook his head. "Sheesh, that kid... she's adorable, but I have to wonder sometimes."

"Don't ruin her dreams," Souji chided him with a grin. "I swore never to tell her of the horrors I witnessed in the food court kitchen..."

They were almost at the front doors by now, and Yosuke raised one eyebrow at Souji, pausing as the automatic doors swished open in front of them. "Aren't you going to finish your shopping?"

"Eh, I hadn't really started yet. Anyway, I haven't seen you for a few days. Good to see your dad didn't kill you," Souji said, mildly.

Yosuke scowled. "Yeah, well, he might as well have," he muttered as he stepped out into the evening light; it felt pleasantly warm outside after the air-conditioned chill of the store. "I'm grounded until school starts again, and they took away my cell over the weekend - got it back now, but..."

Souji gave him a sympathetic look. "Well, it's better than the alternative..."

"Barely," Yosuke sighed. "I basically just ruined the rest of summer."

"I'll just have to come to Junes and see you, then," Souji said immediately, and Yosuke couldn't help but grin in response.

But after that first day, things started getting _weird_. Souji wasn't just there for a little while, not just showing up for his lunch break or something normal. Either Souji or one or more of his friends seemed to be around _constantly_ , hanging around even when Yosuke was busy working. Souji kept walking him home in the evenings, too, and Yosuke couldn't shake the idea that someone was watching him on the way to work in the mornings, though he couldn't prove it. And while the whole thing was kind of nice, in a way, Yosuke was also thoroughly confused. Not that he minded or anything, but he had no idea _why_ Souji and his friends were doing this, or what it meant... or how he felt about it.

"Dude, what's going on?" Yosuke asked him at lunch on the third day; the two of them were sitting in the food court, splitting a set lunch. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's cool that you're hanging around and stuff, but... uh..." And he had absolutely no idea how to finish the sentence, no way to make sense out of his own confusion.

Souji didn't seem bothered by that, though; he just laughed and sat back in his chair. "Can't a guy hang out with his best friend once in a while?"

"W-well, yeah, but... I mean, I don't mind or anything, but..." Yosuke couldn't quite figure out a good way to say that, either, so he let his voice trail off and trusted Souji to fill in the blanks. But, to Yosuke's surprise, Souji actually glanced away for a moment - not long, just a split second, but it was enough. _He's hiding something-_

"I just wanted to spend some more time with you," Souji said with an easy smile that made a strange, confusing feeling thrill through Yosuke. "That's all. You going to finish that?" He leaned forward then, chopsticks hovering over one of the last pieces of meat.

"Well, I- hey, yeah, I damn well am," Yosuke protested, lunging for the meat with his own chopsticks; Souji tried to fend him off, but Yosuke was victorious in the end. "Dumbass," he mumbled through that mouthful of food.

But the thought bothered him all day as he went through the motions of cashiering that afternoon, vaguely aware that Souji was still around here _somewhere_. What on earth could Souji be hiding that would make his best friend spend a lot of time with him, that would make him stay around constantly, giving him looks that Yosuke could only parse as... protective?

Sure enough, Souji was waiting for him again when he came out of the break room late that afternoon. "Man, you must be seriously bored if you're _still_ hanging around," he teased, to hide the uncertain curiosity that tried to override his thoughts at the sight of his best friend. "Want to come back to my house and wait on me hand and foot, next? Maybe work my shift for me tomorrow?"

Souji looked sheepish for a moment, than laughed. "Hmm. I wouldn't go that far. Anyway, if I work your shift for you, you'll just be trapped at home, right?"

Yosuke made a face as the two of them headed for the exit; outside, the sky was covered in clouds, dark and threatening, but the rain wasn't here just yet. "Don't remind me. Ugh. I wouldn't get to see you at all if you didn't come to Junes. I'd just have to text you, I guess."

"Ah, so you've figured out my secret," Souji said with a grin. "It's all a ploy to save my poor inbox."

That made Yosuke laugh despite his uncertainty. "Oh, you're so asking for it. I wonder how many messages it'd take to fill it?"

"That's not a challenge..."

Yosuke elbowed his best friend. "Wanna bet?"

Their cheerful banter continued all the way down the street; Yosuke found himself wishing he lived a little further away from Junes, just so he could have a little more time to tease and be teased in return. But just having Souji around was stretching the point of his 'punishment', and lingering outside chatting would definitely get him in trouble. "Alright, well... I assume I'll see you tomorrow?"

"Maybe. Provided my phone doesn't explode and kill me during the night."

"Yeah, that's what my to-do list for tonight says now... have dinner, do the dishes, text you about a million times," Yosuke said with a playful smirk. "I better get going. Seeya, Souji."

"Bye," Souji said, and Yosuke was all too aware that his best friend lingered on the sidewalk until he was inside.

Nobody was home, as it turned out, and that was kind of irritating - he could have hung out with Souji a little bit more, because that easy conversation was far preferable to silence, and it was much easier to skirt around his own confusion when there were other people around to distract him. Still, Yosuke did his best - he kicked off his shoes, ambled into the kitchen to grab a soda from the fridge, and flicked on the TV. There wasn't really anything on, but it was something-

The ring of the doorbell startled Yosuke out of his reverie, and he jumped up to answer it, wondering idly if it was Souji. He hesitated long enough at the door that the person on the other side knocked, and spoke in an unfamiliar voice. "Hello? I have a delivery here..."

Yosuke opened the door quickly; he wasn't expecting anything in particular, but his parents had probably ordered something. The delivery man gave him an awkward smile, both of his hands taken up with holding the package. "Sorry, I need a signature."

"Oh, sure." Yosuke took the package - damn, it was heavy, was it filled with rocks or something? - and carried it over to the kitchen table. That done, he turned back to the delivery man-

Someone grabbed him from behind, and Yosuke had just enough time to take one sharp breath before a cloth was clamped over his mouth and nose, a strange, chemical scent filling his nostrils. "I'm so sorry, but you'll be safe now," breathed a voice in his ear; he tried to kick, to squirm free, but a haze was falling over him, incapacitating him. He felt himself slump downwards, blinked hard-

And then the world went away.


	11. Chapter 11

Souji made it home just as the rain began to fall in earnest, and as he closed the door behind him he slumped in relief. Yosuke getting grounded had been a lucky accident as far as Souji's 'surveillance' was concerned - while he couldn't very well hover around Yosuke at home, he just had to trust that it would be safe. Considering that Yosuke couldn't go anywhere other than Junes, where Souji could easily keep an eye on him... no, it had to work this time. Yosuke would be fine.

Nanako was still working on her summer homework; she greeted him cheerfully as usual. "I'll make dinner soon, okay? I just need to call someone first," he assured her before he slipped upstairs and closed the door to his room again. As he expected, there was a voice mail from Chie; he didn't bother checking it before returning her call.

She picked up immediately. "Hey, how'd it go?"

"No sign of anything suspicious, at least on my end." Souji rolled his shoulders and sat down on the couch, leaning forward slightly.

"Rise talked to Naoto Shirogane again - he's got that theory that Mitsuo wasn't related to the other murders." Chie sighed, vague exasperation in her tone; Souji knew how she felt. For all that he sort of missed working on the case, that didn't mean he actually wanted it to start up again. "He saw the Midnight Channel too, though I don't think he figured out who it was. Bet he'll get it pretty quick if he keeps watching us."

"I think Yosuke's getting suspicious too," Souji admitted. "I might have to just tell him, like we did with Rise." He wasn't particularly looking forward to that; he wasn't entirely sure how Yosuke would take it, even if he didn't explain the TV world aspect of the case.

"I'll leave that to you, Leader - you know him better than any of us, anyway. You've got morning Yosuke-watching duty tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah. If this rain keeps up, let's watch the Midnight Channel tonight, too. See if anything changes, and we'll talk tomorrow."

"Gotcha. Seeya tomorrow!"

Souji hung up, tucked his phone into his pocket, and sat back for a moment, listening to the rain drum softly on the roof. Then he stretched and slowly got to his feet. Worrying wouldn't help things at all; he just had to trust that things would be okay. It wasn't as if Junes didn't have security guards and cameras - hell, Yosuke was probably safer there than anywhere else. He wasn't sure how he'd keep an eye on Yosuke when school started, but with any luck this would all be resolved before then.

Souji spent the evening working with Nanako on her homework; with her cheerful laughter and Dojima coming home a little earlier than expected, Souji didn't realize until late that evening that Yosuke hadn't sent him a single text message. Not even one.

Still, Yosuke wasn't the best at following through with his dumb plans, so Souji tried not to let that worry him too much; even when a quick phone call resulted in getting Yosuke's voice mail instead of Yosuke himself, he could still come up with logical reasons why. Maybe his parents had taken away his phone again. It made sense, and it was better than quietly panicking, if only for the sake of his own sanity.

But as the clock once again ticked towards midnight, Souji found himself pacing despite himself. He forced himself to stop moving and sit on the couch, picked up a book and didn't read a single word despite turning the pages. Souji was quite certain that Yosuke would still appear on the channel in hazy silhouette, as had happened with everyone else they'd rescued, so the sight of yellow static filling the screen from the inside out didn't send a chill running through him.

What _did_ was the sudden, clear chime of an all-too familiar jingle, one he'd sung with Nanako dozens of times, and the static washing away to reveal an extremely sharp, vivid image. The book fell out of Souji's hands as he stared at the screen, adrenaline snapping through him - because it was Yosuke's Shadow on the screen, clearly visible, decked out in a Junes apron of all things as it stood in front of the store's front entrance. Souji had to resist the urge to get up and reach through the screen at his best friend's form, despite knowing logically that that wasn't how it worked.

"At Junes, every day is Customer Appreciation Day," laughed that familiar voice, but there was a mocking edge to it that he'd never heard before. "Because we _appreciate_ every single cent we can wring from you lazy, apathetic assholes! You don't have to lift a finger! Just let us do _all_ the work. Fill your houses with Junes-brand everything - _bury_ yourselves under our shit, and pay us for it! We sure will _appreciate_ it."

The Shadow leaned in close to the 'camera', yellow eyes flaring as it grinned. "So come see for yourself, and get in touch with our products." Then that familiar music chimed again, and the Shadow actually sang along - "Every day's _great_ at your Junes!"

And then it was gone.

As the picture faded, Souji realized that his phone was buzzing in his pocket; he fumbled it out, feeling dazed, and flicked it open without saying a word. "Senpai - damnit, you were _right_ , that was Yosuke-senpai-"

 _Kanji._ Souji made himself respond. "The killer's still out there. Damn it..." Those words made the numbness drain away, replaced it with that familiar righteous anger; how _dare_ this person do such a thing, try to kill again, using the TV world as a weapon... no matter who the target was, it was unforgivable.

Doubly so, since it was _Yosuke_. "We have to go tomorrow," Souji said, his voice shifting into the decisive tone he used for giving orders. "I want everyone at the Amagi Inn by ten o'clock."

"On it, Senpai. I- Teddie, damnit, you can have the phone in a sec-" Kanji sighed exasperatedly into the phone. "Calm the hell down - Senpai, I'm givin' the phone to Teddie now. I'll call the others. We'll be there."

"Thanks," Souji said, before Teddie's eager, worried voice filled his ears.

............

They'd met at the Amagi Inn dozens of times, slipped through the back hallways into the storage room where they'd first entered the TV world; the TV was a monster, an ancient thing that had originally been in the lobby before being replaced by a newer flatscreen model. Everything they were doing now - the quiet, urgent conversations, the sound of Yukiko locking the storage room door behind them - was familiar.

What wasn't familiar was the undercurrent of fear in Souji's mind; he tried to ignore it, but it was there just the same. Chie kept giving him sympathetic looks - she, too, had had to rescue her best friend. She understood, and Souji took silent comfort from that knowledge. "Let's go," he said, finally, one hand resting on the top of the television, the other reaching out into the screen, the surface rippling like water under his touch.

The journey was dizzying as always; when they arrived in the foggy backlot, Souji slipped his glasses on immediately. He walked over to where they kept their weapons and picked up his sword. "Rise," he ordered, turning to face the others as they, too, put on their glasses and gathered their equipment. "Can you sense him?"

Rise took a few steps away from them and took a deep breath; a moment later, her Persona materialized behind her, gently lowering the visor over her eyes as it swept its head back and forth, searching. "Ugh... Senpai, I can sense _something_ , but..."

"I understand," Souji said, quietly, walking over to her; Rise didn't know Yosuke well enough to find him, but they wouldn't have to search Inaba for information this time. "Yosuke is..." - _my best friend, someone I care about, someone I can't lose_ \- "...kind of lonely. He's had trouble adjusting to this town... and he feels like Junes has helped make him a bit of an outcast. As if nobody can see _him_ underneath the label of 'the Junes kid'." He spoke hesitantly, knowing that those things were private - but if this ended the way every other rescue had, they were going to be fighting Yosuke's Shadow, and then they'd learn more than they ever wanted to know. Souji tried not to think about that.

Rise nodded, slowly, her eyes still obscured by the visor; Himiko's scanning continued, and a moment later she made a soft noise. "Ah - Senpai, I think I found him!" She pushed the visor up, her Persona vanishing as she did so. "I can feel him - that way!"

The way lay along a precarious path of scaffolding; Souji led them along it at the fastest pace he judged to be safe, staring at the fog ahead, willing it to give up its secrets. It didn't take long before a new shape loomed out of the fog, resolving itself quickly into a facade that was eerily familiar.

"Oh," Yukiko said, quietly, as they stopped and stared up at it. "That... makes sense..."

It was Junes, but _not_ as they knew it in the real world - this store was hugely tall, obscuring any hint of red-streaked sky or landscape around them, brightly lit in spots and falling into deep shadow in others. Souji could hear the tinny loop of the in-store soundtrack through the glass doors, mostly familiar but falling into odd, dissonant notes at random intervals. It was deeply unsettling.

And Yosuke was in there, somewhere. Souji tightened his grip on his sword. "Okay, let's go. Chie, Yukiko, Teddie - you're with me. Kanji, stay with Rise and trail us from a safe distance." He heard their acknowledgments, knew they were following him as he stepped forwards. The glass doors stood between them and that familiar red and black swirl, and they swished open automatically at Souji's approach, the void yawning hungrily. Waiting.

Souji took a deep breath, glanced back at the others, and plunged forward.


	12. Chapter 12

Yosuke was exhausted, his head hurt like crazy, and he had _no idea_ where he was.

At first, it seemed obvious - Junes, right, he'd know that stupid freakin' music and those aisles anywhere. How he'd gotten from his house to Junes without consciously being aware of it was damned weird, true, but maybe he'd just... been tired, knocked his head or something. Yet as Yosuke wandered down the aisles, he quickly became aware that something was very, very wrong. Even Junes wasn't this huge, aisles towering over him like massive walls, so long that they were shrouded in thick yellow fog - and since when did Junes even _have_ fog inside it, anyway? And the music wasn't quite right, either. It kept messing up, fizzing out in places.

And none of his calls for help - first normal, then increasingly more desperate as nothing answered him - did anything but echo against the shelves. His cell phone stubbornly refused to connect no matter how hard he tried to call or text; everything came back _no service_ , not even a single ping to voice mail or anything.

Yosuke swallowed thickly and leaned against an endcap; the shelves were covered with identical boxes, all exactly the same size, shape, and color, and they refused to move no matter how hard he pulled at them. His body felt heavy, as if he'd been asleep too long, or drugged, or something. Every corridor he went down, every door he passed through just led to more of the same; he'd found a few escalators leading up, but the biggest Junes he'd ever been to only had four floors. This one had way more.

What the hell was going on?

Yosuke blinked as the in-store audio fizzled again, followed by the familiar chime that led to a store announcement - and then he stiffened as a new voice, a _familiar_ voice, echoed through the 'store'.

"Attention, shoppers! Our limited-time-only sale is going on right now on the tenth floor - come take advantage of our _fantastic_ bargains." The voice laughed, the sound somehow unpleasant, mocking. "Better hurry up... this deal won't last."

Then the chime came again, the music kicked back up, and Yosuke stared at the nearest speaker, his heart thumping in his ears. That had sounded like... like _him_ , _exactly_ like him, and- but that was impossible, he'd never done an announcement, and...

Yosuke swallowed again. This was freaky, _beyond_ freaky, and he wished Souji was still hanging around, like he'd been the rest of the day. Souji, anyone - hell, he'd take King Moron at this point - just so he had someone else here with him, someone else who might have some goddamn clue about what was going on, and where he was.

But... the tenth floor, huh? _Damn_ , this was a huge store - thing - whatever the hell it was - but it was a clue, however small. Whoever had built this messed-up place, whoever was using _his_ damn voice to make announcements... maybe they'd be up there, and he could get some answers.

 

.....................

 

It made way too much sense that Yosuke's 'dungeon' would be a twisted, messed-up version of Junes - the place was such a controlling factor in his life that it really didn't surprise Souji at all. There were Shadows here too, low, crawling shapes sliding down the endless aisles, lunging at them as they ran past. Souji only stopped to fight when he had no other choice; he wasn't here for training. He was here to rescue Yosuke, and he'd be damned if he'd let the Shadows slow him down any more than was absolutely necessary.

When the first announcement kicked up, Souji grew very quiet, then swore under his breath.

"That's his Shadow, isn't it?" Yukiko said, after a moment.

Souji just nodded grimly; he wanted to pick up the pace after that, but he had to think of the others, too. Charging ahead wouldn't help. He kept reminding himself of that as they moved up the next escalator and down more corridors and identical, towering aisles, though a part of him was surprised at himself - even at the beginning, he'd never gotten so... worked up... over a rescue before. Then again, he'd never known anyone they'd rescued so well. Chie and Yukiko had been little more than acquaintances at the beginning, and he hadn't known Kanji or Rise at all, really. Maybe that was the only difference. Of course he'd be more worried for the safety of someone he knew so well, someone he really cared about.

That logic didn't make him feel any better, though.

When they reached the eighth floor, they were alerted by a mocking chuckle, the sound not broadcast through the tinny PA system this time. Souji whirled to see a familiar figure leaning against an endcap, and his breath caught in his throat. Yasogami High uniform, Junes apron, headphones, brown hair.

Yellow eyes.

"Well, well, well," said that familiar voice - but there was a lazy, amused twist to the words that Souji had never heard out of Yosuke. "What a crowd we have today. I guess every day really _is_ great at your Junes, hmm?"

Souji glared at the Shadow and brought his sword up in guard position; heard the rest of the group do the same. "Where is he?"

"Haven't you been listening to the announcements? Our current sale is running on the tenth floor," the Shadow sneered. "If you get that far. Bargain hunters can be pretty vicious." As if on cue, there was a soft, burbling roar from one of the nearby aisles. Souji glanced quickly in that direction, then heard a few steps - and then the thing was right in front of him, so close he could feel the weird coldness that radiated from it. Souji jumped back, keeping the blade between himself and the Shadow at all times.

A slow smile spread over the Shadow's face. "So it _is_ you, after all... now there's a surprise. That explains a lot." It laughed, the sound thoroughly unpleasant.

"Either shut up and get out of our way, or..." Souji said, firmly - he wasn't in the mood to play games with any goddamn Shadow, whether it was wearing Yosuke's face or not.

"Fine, fine - have it your way," the Shadow said with a twisted grin. "See you on the tenth floor." The thing moved easily around a corner, and when Souji ran after it, he found himself facing only an empty aisle.

They were on the ninth floor when it happened, heading up to the tenth; Souji jumped on the escalator and let it carry him up, the others following. The thing moved excruciatingly slow, but Souji could tell the others were flagging; as much as he hated to admit it, it might be best to withdraw for the day, get some rest and come back to rescue Yosuke when they were well-rested. Still, he took a few steps up the escalator, away from the group.

Which was, as it turned out, monumentally stupid.

As soon as Souji was a couple of steps away from the team, the escalator abruptly shuddered under them, the steps twisting, throwing them all roughly into the handrails. "It seems we're having technical difficulties," came an amused voice over the sound of metal tearing and gears grinding. "Junes apologizes for the inconvenience-"

And then the escalator crumbled, and Souji watched in horror as the rest of the team fell downwards with the rest of the demolished escalator; for one terrified moment he was sure he was about to watch them all die. But he saw Kintoki-Douji blink into being over Teddie's head, and the white glow of a Traesto spell burst around them. Their shapes thinned and vanished before they could hit the ground.

Souji let out a sigh of infinite relief, then shuddered as the remaining escalator steps creaked alarmingly under his weight. He scrambled upwards quickly, heard the stairs crumble as he ran, and managed to make it to the top before the last remains of the escalator fell apart and tumbled to the floor below, leaving him completely stranded.

This was not good.

 _Senpai?!_ came a sudden frantic voice in his head; Souji flinched.

"I can hear you fine, Rise, no need to yell-"

 _Oh, thank goodness_. There was relief in her mental 'tone', and Souji moved to lean against the nearest wall. _Are you okay?_

"I'm fine. Are you guys all safe?"

_Yes. Teddie did a great job - listen, can you get down?_

Souji quietly flicked through the Personas in his mind, then sighed. "Not at the moment. I wasn't prepared for that." An oversight - but no other Shadow had ever done anything like _that_ before. Still...

_We're gonna try and get back up to you, okay? Just hang in there._

"I will," Souji promised, then sighed as the sense of Rise's 'attention' faded. This was great - here he was, at the top, with no way to get down easily...

... but Yosuke was probably up here too.

Souji closed his eyes and tried to think logically - it didn't make sense to go any further by himself, especially when he had no means of escape if he got in trouble. The Shadow had destroyed that escalator solely to get him here alone, and risked his friends' lives to do it. It would be completely stupid to just walk in there when he _knew_ there had to be some ulterior motive behind it.

And yet...

In the end, what decided things wasn't logic. It was a soft sound barely at the edges of Souji's hearing, a noise he hadn't noticed at first - but when he realized what it was, he started forward without needing to think, his knuckles white as he gripped his sword. A very quiet, repetitive, distant "shut up, shut up, shut _up_ goddamnit-"

Souji might have been logical, capable of being a firm, impassive leader when such things were called for - but even if it was completely stupid, he couldn't stand here and do nothing. _Sorry, Rise_ , he thought, then lunged for the door.


	13. Chapter 13

Yosuke slumped in the corner, his headphones on, music blaring. It didn't really help.

He'd finally, _finally_ made it to the tenth floor, only to find nothing and no one. And he was so tired, and the queasy feeling in his stomach had only increased. To make matters worse, that goddamn... whoever-it-was that was using _his_ voice was still... still talking, and the music wasn't enough to block out the tinny blare of its mocking 'announcements'.

He'd long since quit asking what the hell was going on. Right now, he didn't care if he _never_ found out the answer to that, so long as this _stopped_ and he could find his way out and get home. He had vague plans of going downwards, finding out if this mazelike place even _had_ a bottom floor with an exit, but every time he tried to stand up a surge of dizziness hit him, hard, and he had to sit down again. His player was nearly out of battery; the song was skipping, strangling from lack of power. Soon it'd stop entirely, and then he'd have even less to distract himself from this... this fucked-up nightmare.

Yosuke flinched as the damned announcement chime sounded again, and the voice kicked up - as if it was in his head, listening to his thoughts. "Only a few more minutes left. Maybe one more song. Maybe two. Then what?" it said, amused.

"Shut up," Yosuke mumbled, clapping his hands over his ears and pressing hard; if the music wouldn't work, maybe he could block it with his hands and the sound of his own voice. Get some space to _think_ , to make some kind of plan- "Just... shut up, shut up, shut _up_ , goddamnit..." The words became a mantra that carried him past the moment when the music choked out, though he wasn't sure how effective it was; his throat was starting to hurt, too, and-

The sharp swish of the doors opening brought Yosuke to sudden attention and stilled his voice, and for a moment he was sure he was dreaming - there was no way, no freaking way that was _really_ Souji standing there in that doorway, wearing glasses of all things, a sword held expertly in his hands. He just stared for a moment, then scrambled to his feet so quickly that the resulting wave of dizziness very nearly knocked him over again, and he had to lean heavily on the wall. "S-Souji?!"

A relieved smile spread over his best friend's face, the expression unmistakable - it really _was_ him, had to be - and Souji took a few steps forward. "Thank goodness-"

But Souji stopped moving as that _whatever-it-was_ chuckled, still using Yosuke's voice - but this time, Yosuke realized with a sudden chill, there was no tinny echo to it as there had been before. As whatever it was was in the room with him-

"Oh, _well_ done. You finally figured it out, huh?"

It appeared between one blink and the next, stepping out of the shadows in the corner, movements easy, quick, and _familiar_. Yosuke's jaw dropped, and he was dimly aware of Souji snapping that sword of his up into guard position. That was-

_Me?!_

"And your best friend came, too," it said, and Yosuke stared numbly at it. It was like looking into a mirror - except he wasn't wearing a Junes apron, his eyes were most certainly _not_ a startling, sharp yellow, and Yosuke was quite certain _he'd_ never had that kind of wide, mocking smirk on his face. " _Perfect_."

But Souji looked right past the... the _thing_ , caught Yosuke's gaze with his own. "Are you okay?"

Yosuke swallowed, hard. "I... I think so..."

The thing with Yosuke's face snickered, then turned on one heel and stalked languidly over to Yosuke; Yosuke shrank back into the corner, and it just grinned at him. "Hurts, doesn't it? Hurts to be all alone. You were scared, weren't you? You just _hate_ being alone. Alone here... and alone in this fucking town."

"Wh-what?!" Yosuke stared at it, unbelieving. What did this have to do with anything-

"And it hurt so much to have all your sweet little city 'friends' ignore you, never reply to anything you send. And they won't, no matter how long you wait. You left; you're not their in for discounts anymore, you're too far away for you to buy their friendship. So why bother?" It reached out, brushed one hand lightly against Yosuke's cheek; Yosuke pressed away as best he could, but he was cornered. "And then you come here, and Junes isn't a magic ticket any more - they _hate_ Junes here, hate it and come in and buy shit anyway, fucking hypocrites, but they'll feed their families on Junes crap in the evenings and rag on you the next day. Whisper about you. You're not a _person_ to them, you're just some outgrowth of that damn store. Easy target."

A cold shiver twisted through Yosuke's stomach; he fought the urge to just curl up right there, because Souji was here, watching... watching, _listening_ , oh god- he couldn't be... weak like that, not in front of him- " _No-_ "

The thing with his face turned slightly, a knowing smile distorting its features. "And you don't want him to hear, do you? Poor, _poor_ little Hana-chan. Maybe you can stand it if you're alone, because you're _so_ damn good at fooling yourself... but you can't fool _him_ , can you? He's too smart, too _perceptive_. He'll find out." Yosuke's mouth went dry; he tried to say something, couldn't find words.

"Yosuke, it's okay - listen, I know you're confused, I know you don't know what's going on, but I've faced these things before. We can fix this," Souji said, urgently.

The thing just snorted. "You think you know everything, don't you? Friends, _best_ friends, so close - best thing either of you've ever had, best thing _he's_ had, anyway." The thing flipped one hand lazily in Yosuke's direction. "But I promise you... you don't know everything." It canted its head towards Yosuke, mocking grin clearly visible. "Should I tell him?"

"S-shut up!" Yosuke shoved it away with all the force he could muster - which wasn't much, at this point - and wondered why Souji didn't goddamn _use_ that sword he was holding.

But the thing caught that, too, like it was in his head, listening to his thoughts. "Want him to save you, huh? He knows better. _He's faced these things before_." It shot Souji a cruel grin. "He's always known better. Drives you crazy, doesn't it?"

"What? N-no... no it doesn't- what are you talking about-"

"Yosuke, listen to me, you don't have to-" Souji began, but the thing cut him off with a laugh.

"He understands you so well, he knows everyone, knows everything. _Almost_ perfect. Too bad he got here first, took the spot you wanted to have - the popular, suave city boy. Didn't leave anything for you, did he? You'll never live up to that. Too bad, so sad." Its yellow eyes glittered as Yosuke's fists clenched at his side. "And now he's just _standing_ there-"

" _Yosuke_ ," Souji said sharply, but the thing reached out and casually tugged Yosuke's now-silent headphones off of his ears.

"Just standing there, letting me talk. Some best friend - but you won't say anything, will you? You depend on him too much. You're _lost_ without him, poor little Hana-chan... without him, you don't have _anything_. You lose him, you're sunk. And that's why you're so scared." Yosuke shuddered as it leaned in close, its breath tickling the side of his face. "Because I _know_ what else you want, but you're too scared to even _think_ about _that_. You push it away. It's _confusing_ , you don't get it, so - shove it away, deny it, pretend it doesn't exist. You're so, so good at that."

"I-I don't know what you- Souji, I don't know what it's talking about," Yosuke said, his voice shaky as he stared at Souji; his best friend was giving him a helpless look, but even as Souji opened his mouth, that damn thing cut him off once more with a laugh that echoed off the walls.

"You do know, you do - we _both_ know it. I'm talking about _this_." Suddenly the thing was gone, darting across the space between Yosuke and Souji as if it was nothing, impossibly fast; before Souji had a chance to bring up his sword, it had one arm over his shoulders, leaning in close. "You're _special_ to me, y'know?" it crooned, and Yosuke froze.

Souji broke free of the thing's grip easily, eyes narrowed, and for some reason that hurt too - watching Souji slip away from contact with the... not-him. It was too easy for Yosuke to put himself in the thing's place; it could _be_ him, other than those yellow eyes and the fact that he'd never, _ever_ -

"Never ever what?" the thing purred, and Yosuke flinched again. "Never walk around Junes, _thinking_ about him and being oh-so-confused? Because he's so _nice_ , so kind, always around, knows exactly how to make you laugh, how to make you feel better... never tell him how _special_ he is at the damn summer festival, under the fucking fireworks? There's a word for that, you know-"

"Shut up," Yosuke said; it came out as more of a panicked yelp. "Shut up, shut up, shut _up_ -"

The thing paced around Souji; Souji followed its movements, turning to keep it in front of him at all times, guarded and wary. "Good, keep doing that," it said with a laugh, and Yosuke wasn't sure which of them it was talking to. "You know, he's a smart guy. He'll figure it out, won't he?" There was that sharp blur of motion again as the thing slipped past Souji's guard as if it was the easiest thing in the world. "Figure out," it said, the sound somehow simultaneously mocking and breathless, "that what you really want is-"

And Souji tried to say something, but the thing silenced him once more... by pressing its lips against Souji's, hard, and Yosuke couldn't do anything but stare in abject horror - and a little bit of _something else_ he tried desperately to ignore.

Souji was the one who broke the kiss, stepping back sharply with a startled look on his face, turning to meet Yosuke's gaze; Yosuke could feel his face burning, knew it was as good as confirmation, and hated himself for it. "How did I know that?" the thing whispered, somehow back at Yosuke's side again. Yosuke finally scrambled to his feet, stumbling away from it, but it followed him with a laugh. "How did I know _exactly_ what you wanted? Everything you never told yourself? Because I'm _you_ , and every single thing I've said is true, isn't it? Go ahead. Tell him."

"No," Yosuke said, his voice shaking; then his fists clenched at his side as a surge of angry desperation hit him. "No, no, that's not true - you're crazy, I'd never-" He couldn't look at Souji. "That's not what I want-"

"Yosuke, wait-" Souji managed, but the thing's laughter drowned everything else.

"But it is, it is. You can't hide _anything_ from me. I'm you, your Shadow - and there's _nothing_ I don't know about you."

"No... _no!_ You're not... you're _not_ me, you're _nothing_ like me! You're _not me!_ "

His shaky, almost triumphant shout rang against the walls, and for a moment Yosuke was sure he'd _won_ , somehow - but then the thing threw back its head and laughed, bringing waves of darkness out of the air, and exhaustion and dizziness hit him like a physical blow. His legs collapsed under him, and as Yosuke hit the ground, he saw the _thing_ rear upwards out of the shadows, growing hugely as it did so. He had a brief impression of whirling, saw-like blades and wild red hair - and then Souji was in front of him, sword at the ready, saying words Yosuke couldn't make out.

For an instant, Yosuke saw something new shimmer into being over his best friend's head, and he barely registered a quick shock of surprise under the renewed surge of disorientation - _a... a dragon, what... what the hell_ -

Then the not-him- _thing_ laughed again, and everything drained away.


	14. Chapter 14

The Shadow stretched over them both, laughing as it _changed_ , growing larger, gaining definition; Souji saw Yosuke collapse, ran to jump between his prone best friend and his Shadow. _Damn it_ \- 

_Senpai?!_ came Rise's sudden, panicked voice in his mind.

"Rise-" Souji began, then stopped talking abruptly as the Shadow reared out of the shadows, hissing at him in delight. It was massive, all whirling blades and swift, agile movements, its yellow eyes filled with hunger as it stared down at them.

" _Wonderful_ , thank you," it laughed at him, then spun one of those blades in a swift arc; Souji brought up his sword just in time, bracing against the impact as he deflected the strike, sending the smaller saw-like blade to embed itself in the wall. "He was doing so well until you came along."

Souji glared at the Shadow, eyes narrowed. It had used him, and he'd fallen right into its trap. "That doesn't matter. You're still going to lose." He called Seiryuu in one swift motion, the dragon coiling over him and bringing a surge of lighting to crash down into the Shadow. The thing hissed sharply and reared back, but-

 _Senpai! What's going on?! I'm detecting a powerful Shadow! Oh, no... you didn't_ \- Rise sounded frustrated, a little angry, but then her mental sigh resounded through Souji's mind. _We're coming as fast as we can, I'll try to support you from here!_

"Too bad you're useless to me now," the Shadow snarled, its voice drowning out whatever else Rise had to say. "And I _don't_ like useless, boring things." Its yellow eyes glittered. "Yes... I'll crush everything that bores me... starting with you!"

 _No weaknesses! It nulls wind, don't use that_ -

"Understood - I'm sorry, Rise," Souji said under his breath, his heart pounding; this was going to _hurt_ , but he had to do this or else they were both going to die. He called Triglav next, the Persona protecting both himself and Yosuke's unconscious form with its power. In return, the Shadow drew itself up, laughing, then came down with a massive burst of wind that made Souji stagger backwards. Okay, he could work with that - Seiryuu again, and-

_Watch out!!_

Rise's cry was the only warning; the Shadow lunged past Souji's guard, bringing one bladed hand down, aiming for _Yosuke_ instead. Souji dove, driving his body weight into the thing's arm as it moved - just enough _oh thank god_ to make the finger-blades dig into the floor, instead of into his best friend's prone body. "I'm _not_ going to let you take him, damnit," Souji said through gritted teeth as the Shadow thrashed, trying to free its hand from the floor, and brought his sword down hard on the exposed limb.

It didn't cut all the way through, but it certainly made the thing scream, and brought a _Nice, Senpai!_ from Rise; Souji grimly pulled his sword free before the Shadow could twist it out of his hands.

He wasn't beaten yet.

 

........................

 

"Yosuke? Yosuke! Hey, wake up-"

Yosuke was dimly aware of someone shaking him, of a bone-deep ache that seemed to run through his entire body - and then memory came flooding back, and he sat up with a sharp intake of breath. Maybe he was dreaming-

But everything was still around him as he remembered, with few exceptions - the nightmare Junes interior was still there, and Souji was next to him... but his best friend looked exhausted, a sheen of sweat on his face, glasses askew, sword laid to one side. And that _thing_ , the one that had worn his face, that had said those terrible awful _true_ things, was there too. But the aura of darkness was gone, as was the lithe, massive shape it had become. It was just _him_ again, or not-him, staring at them soundlessly with those yellow eyes.

"What... what are you?" Yosuke managed, staring at it.

"It's _you_ , Yosuke," Souji said quietly. "Part of you. Your Shadow."

"No," Yosuke began, but he felt Souji tense next to him, and while his best friend didn't say anything, he _knew_. Souji had protected him from... from that thing, from that... Shadow... and... He swallowed, hard. None of this made sense, and yet... yet it _did_. Those bruises, those long times when Souji was nowhere to be found, the way Souji's friends would suddenly stop talking or change the subject when he came too close... "This is what you've been..."

"Right," Souji said, quietly. But Yosuke couldn't look at him; the Shadow was still staring at him, silently, waiting for something. "Yosuke, it'll attack again if you don't..." Souji's words trailed off, and Yosuke took a deep, shaky breath. He didn't want to face it, to _admit_ those things... not here, not now, and most _definitely_ not in front of Souji - but Souji had exhausted himself to protect him from this, from the monster his Shadow had become.

And, in the end, that was what decided things; he couldn't let his best friend, the person he cared about most, have done all that for him in vain. Yosuke slowly got to his feet, and after a moment's hesitation he walked over to face his double, hands shaking at his sides. He opened his mouth, tried to say something, failed-

"Yosuke, it's okay. You're still yourself."

"Myself..." Yosuke said quietly, then sighed and looked up into those yellow eyes. "Damnit, it hurts to face yourself... but... i-it's true, what it said. I knew it, but I was... couldn't say it, but... you're me," he admitted. "Everything you said... is me. You're me, and I'm you."

 _I am thou, thou art I_ , came an answering echo that seemed to resonate in his mind; the Shadow smiled, just slightly, and dissolved. A new figure appeared in its place, that wild red hair and flash of steel reminiscent of the creature his Shadow had become - but this time, as Yosuke stared at it, he didn't feel afraid. It was weird, true, but it was also _right_ in a way he couldn't explain-

And then it was gone, opening up a part of his mind he'd never known he had, a comforting, powerful presence. "This... is my... Persona?" he breathed, echoing the strangeness in his head.

"Yeah," said a quiet voice, and Yosuke jumped - for a moment, he'd actually forgotten that Souji was there. Then another wave of dizziness hit him, and he stumbled, only to find Souji there to catch him. For a moment he flinched away, remembering everything the Shadow had said - everything it had admitted for him, everything he'd had to confirm was true - but, damnit, he was too tired to worry about that now.

And, well, if Souji had protected him... well, you didn't protect people you hated, did you?

"Sorry," he mumbled into Souji's shoulder.

"It's okay," Souji said, and Yosuke smiled despite his utter exhaustion.


	15. Chapter 15

"... pay attention to the parallelism in this sentence," the teacher droned on, and Souji's gaze flicked to focus on the classroom clock for the tenth time in as many minutes. This afternoon's lecture was particularly boring, and while Souji still took detailed notes as always - especially since Yosuke would probably need to borrow them later - the last bell couldn't come soon enough.

When it finally rang, Souji leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief. "Ugh, that was so dull," Chie groaned, stretching. "When am I ever gonna need to know English, anyway?"

"You never know," Yukiko chided her, a playful smile on her face. "Maybe you'll have to arrest a foreigner someday, if you ever become a cop."

Chie rolled her eyes. "I already learned how to say _that_ stuff from movies, geez." She grinned back, though, then turned to focus on Souji. "Hey, how's Yosuke-kun doing?"

"I don't know," Souji confessed, reaching down into his bag to find his cell phone; no messages, as usual. He'd sent a few text messages to Yosuke, here and there, mostly 'feel better soon' notes, but he hadn't gotten any replies. It was weird that Yosuke hadn't so much as texted him, and Souji couldn't help but worry a little that the awkward strangeness of - well, _everything_ \- might have been too much for his best friend.

Yukiko gave him a sympathetic look. "Just give him time. It's only been a week and a half... I know it wasn't the same for the two of you, but it's really exhausting when you're... well, you know," she added, leaning in and lowering her voice.

Souji nodded. "I'm sure he'll contact me somehow once he's feeling better."

Chie shoved back her chair and jumped to her feet. "Well, I think some training is just what I need. Gotta keep fit, especially since this isn't over, right? Ooh, when we get this guy I'm going to leave footprints over every single inch of his body!"

"Sounds good to me," Souji replied, and resisted the urge to chuckle at the look Yukiko gave Chie behind her back. "I'll see you two tomorrow."

"Tomorrow," Yukiko agreed. "And don't forget what I said about Yosuke-kun."

"I won't," Souji assured her, then turned to pack up his things as the girls left the classroom. Still, as he packed up and made his way downstairs, he couldn't help but think about Yosuke. Souji hadn't spoken to him since that afternoon inside the TV, when they'd waited quietly for Rise to guide the others back to the top floor and get them out of there. All his words then had been explanations about exactly where they were and what was going on, about Shadows and Personas.

Souji hadn't really thought about the significance of what else had been said and done, not then; he'd been too damn tired. But since then, he'd had a lot of time. Oh, sure, he had plenty to do with music club and soccer practice, not to mention homework and everything else, but Yosuke's absence left... gaps.

It was a warm afternoon, still muggy, and the cicadas seemed to muffle all other sounds with their incessant drone. Souji didn't really have anything planned, so he took his time walking home, lost himself in thought again - thoughts about easy banter and back-and-forth teasing, about the way he and Yosuke had just clicked from the start, about fireworks and that quiet, simple moment on the fence in the field behind the shrine. About how damn scared he'd been when Yosuke's Shadow showed up on the Midnight Channel.

About how, despite the swirl of conflicting emotions at the time, he'd still had to catch his breath after the Shadow kissed him.

Really, he should have seen it coming from a mile away. But he couldn't really do anything, couldn't be _sure_ , until Yosuke had recovered and they'd talked this out. At least there was one small blessing - the entire team hadn't been there to see what had happened with Yosuke's Shadow, and they hadn't asked. Souji wasn't sure Yosuke would _ever_ come back to school again if all of that had happened in front of six other people. As it was-

"... Souji?"

Souji stopped walking immediately, brought out of his reverie by the sound of his own name - and there was Yosuke, grinning sheepishly atop his shaky yellow bike. The brakes squealed unpleasantly as Yosuke stopped the bike. "Piece of crap," he muttered, then looked up at Souji. "Hey. Uh. I was looking for you."

"Long time no see," Souji replied, with an answering grin. "How're you feeling?"

"Well enough that I can go back to school tomorrow." Yosuke made a face, then glanced around and lowered his voice. "How the hell do you come back from... uh, that... and not sleep for a week every time?"

"Practice," Souji said, and tried not to laugh when Yosuke's expression shifted into that familiar not-really-irritated scowl.

"So. Uh. You doing anything right now?" Yosuke ran one hand awkwardly through his hair.

"Not since you showed up." Souji smiled. "Man, it's good to see you again. Now I can finally stop taking exhaustive notes."

"Oh, right, like you wouldn't do that anyway," Yosuke scoffed, but Souji was quite sure he didn't imagine the faint spread of color across Yosuke's cheeks. "You took notes for me?"

"Well, yeah, considering it was my fault you missed class in the first place."

"Yeah, about that... um." Yosuke bit his lip. "Can we... go somewhere and talk, and stuff?"

Souji nodded, then gave Yosuke's bike a dubious look as the other boy indicated the bike rack with one hand. "What, you want me to ride on that deathtrap?"

"Just shut up and get on, okay?"

Souji laughed, and complied.

 

They ended up at the overlook, with Yosuke tiring himself out halfway up the hill; Souji had taken over pedaling duty, despite Yosuke's loud protests that he "wasn't dying, damnit, I can ride my bike just fine!" There wasn't anyone up there today - too hot, probably - and Yosuke flopped down on the grass almost immediately. "Damn, it's hot. Ugh."

"You're the one who wanted to come up here," Souji said, though he sat down next to Yosuke; there was a faint breeze, but it wasn't worth much considering the exertion they'd both put in to get here. "You really, really need a new bike."

"Yeah, I know," Yosuke grumbled. He shifted to tuck his arms under his head, staring up at the cloudless sky; Souji joined him after a moment, laying back on the grass. "You know, I was kinda wondering if everything that happened was all some kinda messed-up dream, like maybe I just got sick and started seeing things... but it wasn't, was it?"

"No, it's wasn't a dream." Souji hesitated. "Yosuke, I'm really sorry I didn't tell you about everything sooner. I wanted to tell you, but..."

"It's okay. Besides, I don't know if I'd have believed you. I mean, a world inside the TV, with Shadow-things and that power... Persona... yeah, I don't know." Yosuke sighed. "But everything kind of makes sense now. All the disappearing acts you pulled, and all those bruises, and everything else. That was all because of this, wasn't it?"

"Yeah, it was."

Yosuke was silent for a long moment. "So... since I have that power too now, maybe I could help you guys? Uh. If you want."

"Of course you can - man, if you didn't volunteer, I'd practically beg you," Souji said, propping himself up on one elbow and grinning down at Yosuke. "It was driving me _crazy_ to not be able to tell you what was going on."

Yosuke looked up and met his gaze, a pleased smile on his face. "Really? Um. Awesome. I mean, I've never really fought anything before, but I'm pretty fast, and... yeah. I think I could do it."

"I _know_ you can do it," Souji said, firmly.

"Thanks, man." There was another long pause before Yosuke sighed and glanced away. "Souji, I... ugh. I'm sorry... that I didn't tell you about. Uh. Things. That's why I didn't call you or anything. I didn't know what to say. Didn't want to do it over the phone."

Souji nodded, slowly, though he felt a faint anxiety thrill through him; this was _it_ , pretty much. "It's okay. I figured it was something like that." Yosuke's face was red with embarrassment now, and he was firmly looking off to one side; then he jumped to his feet, wandering over to lean against the overlook fence. Souji followed him, leaning up against the fence too, not quite sure what to say.

Yosuke took a deep breath and ducked his head. "Geez, this is the most... nah, second-most awkward thing ever..." Souji was pretty sure he knew what the _most_ awkward thing was, but he kept quiet. "I guess... part of me had things figured out, but the rest of me didn't want to hear it..."

"That's okay," Souji said, quietly. "Everyone's like that. I was there when the rest of the team faced their Shadows, too. We all have things we don't want to admit."

But Yosuke gave him an almost anguished look before snapping his gaze back to the landscape below. "Yeah, but that's a pretty damn important thing..." He sighed. "Anyway, I know that was all... really weird and dumb and you can just... I don't know, don't freak out or anything, and forget about what the other me said. _That_ part. You know. I just... don't want you to stop being my friend, just because..." His voice trailed off, swallowed up by the drone of the cicadas.

Souji took a deep breath; something in his stomach twisted up tight with sudden nervousness, which was _dumb_ \- but he couldn't screw this up. Not now, not when he _knew_ , when Yosuke's presence had snapped everything into sharp focus. "I'm not going to stop being your friend. That's not going to happen. Ever."

Yosuke immediately slumped in visible relief, then glanced back at Souji with a grateful smile on his face. "T-thanks. Heh, I guess I'm kind of dumb, huh? Why would you come up here with me if you hated me?"

"I don't hate you," Souji said, firmly. "It's... the opposite, actually."

Yosuke tilted his head to one side; Souji saw the way his fingers tensed around the wooden fence railing. "Yeah?" he said, finally.

Souji sighed, then grinned sheepishly at his best friend. "Yosuke... I was _scared_ when I knew you were trapped in there, more scared than I've ever been about anything. Because I couldn't lose you. Everything you meant that night at the festival... it's also true for me. Because you're special to me, too."

Yosuke just stared at him. "U-uh. Wait. _Seriously?_ "

"Yeah," Souji admitted, aware that his own face was getting a little red, too.

"Wait, so I was freaking out for nothing?" Yosuke teased, then paused. "Um. So, uh..."

And Souji couldn't quite think of what to say, so he settled for leaning closer to Yosuke; then his best friend was leaning in too, his movements quick, as if he were afraid of losing the moment. Souji had just enough time to take a quick, pleased breath before Yosuke kissed him, one arm coming up to grab hard at the back of his shirt.

It was a relatively quick kiss, and there was nothing fancy about it - but there didn't need to be. When Yosuke pulled away, the completely stupid grin on his face was a mirror to Souji's own. All the awkwardness and tension flowed away, leaving nothing but relief in its wake.

"You know what?" Souji said, after a moment.

"What?" Yosuke's face was red again, but he was smiling hugely this time.

"Next time you want to confess, you really should just put a note in my shoe locker, or something."

Yosuke paused, then started laughing helplessly. "Geez - what, using my Shadow was a little much for you? I thought you had experience with that kind of thing!"

Souji grinned, feeling better than he had in a long time. "Well, it was kind of overkill. Very unique method, though, I have to say..."

"Shut up," Yosuke laughed, and leaned in again to ensure Souji was much too busy to say anything more.


	16. Chapter 16

"Okay, Yosuke - this one's yours," Souji said evenly, bringing his sword up into guard position; the Shadow bobbed and floated in front of them, its oversized tongue lolling. "Just hit it with a wind spell, and it'll go down."

Yosuke nodded, his eyes narrowed in concentration. It was weird, reaching into his own head and finding _power_ there that he could use and direct, but he was starting to get the hang of it. A sharp mental movement combined with physical motion, a twisting leap into the air to shatter the tarot card waiting for him there, and the Persona - _his_ Persona - materialized over him as he landed in a crouch. He still couldn't help watching Susano-o in fascination as the Persona easily called forth a burst of wind that blasted the Shadow into tiny bits.

 _This is so freaking cool_.

"Nice, Yosuke-kun!" Chie called out, flashing him a v-sign.

Then Souji was there, reaching down one hand to help him up; Yosuke took it and got to his feet, then brushed his hair out of his face and tugged his headphones down to rest around his neck in the same movement. "How was that?" he asked, shifting to turn off the music.

"Perfect," Souji assured him with a grin. "Doesn't jumping around like that every time you call Susano-o tire you out, though?"

Yosuke grinned back and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "Nah, I can take it. It just feels... right. Like that's the way I'm supposed to do it."

"You learn bear-y fast, Yosuke!" Teddie beamed, bouncing as he shifted from foot to foot, making faint squeaking noises. "I think that's all of them, Sensei," he added, turning to Souji.

 _Yep, the floor's clear_ , Rise chimed in. _Ready to come back? I think Yosuke-senpai's getting tired_.

"I am not," Yosuke protested, but Souji raised one eyebrow at him and he grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, well... maybe a little." A Shadow had smacked him earlier in the fight, and while Souji had healed him, it still ached a bit, and while working with his Persona was amazing, it also took a lot out of him.

"I got it! Sensei, let me do it?" Teddie begged, then puffed up proudly when Souji nodded. "Okay! Go, Kintoki-Douji!" The odd, round Persona sprang into being above Teddie's head; a moment later, they were all standing in the 'strip club' entrance, blinking away the glare from the Traesto spell.

"Man, that feels weird," Yosuke muttered, reaching out to grab at the edge of the stage for balance.

"-short break, make sure you're all healed up, then we'll see what we have time for," Souji was saying, and Yosuke looked up to see everyone else nod; the rest of the team was dispersing, heading for the backlot. But Souji turned, then walked back to join him, sitting on the edge of the stage. "How're you feeling?"

Yosuke quickly moved to sit on the stage, too, then winced slightly at the ache in his side. "I'm mostly okay, I think. It's a lot to get used to, but... man, I could kick your ass for not telling me about it sooner. This is all... it's amazing, killing Shadows, chasing down a murderer, using Personas... I've never done _anything_ like this before."

"Heh." Souji's smile remained, but something in his face changed a bit, his eyes losing focus slightly. "It's not all fun and games, though. These Shadows are easy, since we're just practicing... the real thing _hurts_ a lot more. We could die doing this."

Yosuke bit his lip and edged a little closer to Souji. "Not if I have anything to do with it, you won't."

Souji's expression softened. "We'll be careful, and we'll make it, and we'll catch this bastard and make him pay for what he's done," he said, firmly.

"Yeah. I owe him a wrench to the face for kidnapping me and throwing me in here," Yosuke muttered, putting one hand on the impromptu 'weapons'; Yukiko had borrowed them from the Inn's maintenance closet. "Though, you know, now I kinda wish he'd come after me sooner. I missed out on a lot."

Souji shook his head, a wry smile on his face. "And I wish you hadn't gone through all that to get here - but it's nice that I don't need to hide this from you any more. I hated having to do that."

"It's okay," Yosuke said, then jumped as Souji's free hand wandered down and squeezed his own, tightly. He squeezed back after a moment, and shifted to lean against Souji. "Getting kidnapped, thrown in here, having to face my Shadow - yeah, that kinda sucked, but... well, I think it was worth it."

Souji didn't say anything in reply, but he didn't have to; the comfortable silence was more than enough. Yosuke wasn't sure how long they spent like that, but he was startled out of that easy reverie by Rise's voice - in his head, of all places. _Souji-senpai? Are you and Yosuke-senpai ready to go? You haven't moved for a while_...

Startled, Yosuke tried to let go of Souji's hand, but Souji wouldn't let him. "We're fine, Rise," Souji replied, an amused look on his face. "And yeah, I think we're just about ready." His eyes flicked over to meet Yosuke's. "How about it?"

Yosuke laughed and straightened up, and that time Souji let him go. Yosuke scooped up his wrenches from the stage and jumped forward in one easy motion, then glanced back at Souji with a grin. "Yeah, I'm ready. Let's go, partner!"

 _Yeah_ , Yosuke thought as Souji smiled back at him. _Definitely worth it_.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Eavesdropper](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2040099) by [akisazame](https://archiveofourown.org/users/akisazame/pseuds/akisazame)




End file.
